Sorry the update took so long on this platform. I had to change my schedule to one update a month on ao3 for now and this chapter is a three parter on there. gets to be the version of this story I always wanted. No three parter chapters in sight but slower updates xD.
Danny really hated white. White hair, white rooms, white suits. All of it tied to thoughts and memories he gave valiant efforts to move past. Thoughts and memories that made a wall behind his eyes and the distance in his gaze a valley. Thoughts and memories he could only think of in the capacity where they belonged to an alternate version of himself. Not the real him.
Dissociation at its finest Jazz would say.
Anyway, Danny hated white. His partner of over three centuries now was well aware of that fact. Her glamoured milk hued skin tightening over her knuckles as her grip on his wrist tensed in comradery while the pair waited in the empty meeting room. They'd been intercepted before breakfast and told by a superior wielding an Omnia gauntlet that their presence would be required in Assembly Room 3 at precisely 08:00 hours.
The 'or else' hadn't been said, but heavily implied as the officer's fingers lightly stroked the side of the gauntlet. It had taken every ounce of self control the halfa had built up over the course of almost 800 years to not immediately make a joke about stroking his ego in front of them. Raven had seen the comment forming on his tongue as he hesitated, a losing battle of wit against self preservation, and managed to pull him away without causing a scene before Danny had managed to open his mouth.
Having lost their appetite to their sudden onslaught of anxiety, they rushed straight to the aforementioned room, every surface coated in the same soulless white. They arrived twenty minutes early, and Danny's legs had been bouncing to no audible rhythm for fourteen of them. Raven had long ceased trying to quell his restless limbs. She sat with her eyes closed beside him in a meditative state as she effortlessly tuned out the soft sounds of his heels colliding with the tiled floor. A sort of effortlessness that comes from centuries of practice.
Four minutes before the deadline, the door snapped and opened to allow passage for four new individuals. Raven's hand let go of him as he took in the newcomers. Two of which Danny could easily identify as Alien. One blue skinned and so thin it looked like a stiff wind would snap her spine in half. The other was a Thanagarian. Dark grey wings, average stature, and hair as dark as the bags under his eyes.
The other two were humanoid women, one large bodied and muscular to the point of winning Bodybuilding contests. The other was fit and dark skinned, her blonde frizzy hair defeating gravity before the strands turned to flames at the tips. Fire hair's brown eyes lit up, despite the bags beneath them, in recognition at the sight of them before her frown morphed into an easygoing smile as she made her way to the chair next to them. The bulky, gloomy Thanagarian followed her before he took the seat next to her and glared at the front of the room without a word.
"Y'all are Legacies right?" She asked without preamble as she sat on the edge of her metal chair and crossed her arms to rest her fingers against her stomach. The other duo took their seats next to the Thanagarian and watched the blooming conversation through the corners of their eyes.
Raven's right eyelid twitched once as it cracked open to glare at the newcomer before it slid shut once more. Danny's leg ceased its motions as his mind suddenly became incredibly engaged at the possibility of an actual conversation.
"She is," the halfa corrected and confirmed in two words as he quirked an eyebrow and pointed at his partner with his thumb.
"Wicked." She whispered in awe as she looked at the sorceress with wonder. "And you're both immortal?" She asked as she shifted her hands and moved to brace them against her knees as she leaned towards the more talkative of the long-lived soldiers. At his nod, her chin jerked once in the direction of her glaring wingman before she let out a chuckle. "Sho is too. Won't actually *answer* any of my questions 'bout it tho." She informed the halfa with an obviously fake and over the top pout on her thin, pointed, face.
"What kind of questions?" Danny asked unable to stop himself as his curiosity reined.
"Like, how can you be bad at anything?" She began as her hand gestured to emphasize her confusion on the subject. "You should all be masters of science and arts and everything!" She stated as though it were obvious. "Y'all got all the time in the world! Why the hell is Sho so miserably terrible at math?"
Oh, Danny thought as he began to panic. She's using me for an argument. How the hell do I get out of this conversation!
As the halfa scrambled and took too long to answer Raven's eyes opened while her head turned to answer the young woman's inquiry. "For most immortals, the longer they live the harder it is to remember things." The sorceress began simply as her violet eyes remained locked with the curious chocolate iris two meters away. "Things that are inconsequential, like a hobby or a skill will easily be lost or forgotten to time despite how much time was initially spent refining it." She sighed and shook her head lightly as if to shake off an unpleasant thought. "It is not like riding a bicycle. Only the things that truly matter are retained and even then, if they are not careful, they could forget those things as well." She broke their eye contact and looked away into the near corner of the room as her hands tightened into fists, bunching against the grey sweatpants she hadn't had a chance to change out of.
"You ain't one of 'em?" The curious woman asked as Danny thought on his own experience. He didn't hear fire chick's words nor saw how the Demoness' violet eyes hardened into steel before she turned away from the conversation.
"I mean," Danny cut in as his fingers buried into the hair above the back of his neck, nails scratching against the roots. "I definitely don't remember anything I learned in public school. Especially math." He admitted with a sheepish smile as the tension in his partner's shoulders began to lighten. "At this point, I'm just glad I still know how to add and subtract." He joked exaggerating the truth for a little bit of fun as he tried to lighten the mood from the gloomy path their talk had almost walked down without a map.
The fiery woman opened her mouth to continue the conversation before a blush sprouted across her cheeks and her mouth snapped shut. "Oh!" She exclaimed as she bounced lightly in her seat. "I'm Phoebe!" She introduced as she leaned into his space and held out her hand. "You're Fanny right?"
"Danny," he corrected with a half laugh curling around his name as he took her offered appendage. Her olive skin was warm to the touch, even warmer against the everlasting chill beneath his own epidermis.
"And..." her eyes narrowed onto the sorceress' sullen form as their hands separated. "Um, can't remember. I seen you around tho!"
"Rachel," The Demoness said softly her eyes still in the corner, unmoving.
"Any idea why they pulled us all in here?" Phoebe asked as she began to look around the room when the door clicked again and slid open to reveal another duo. One of which Danny easily recognized despite the ugly scar across his temple.
"Danny," he hissed as his spine straightened while the tension in the room spiked.
"Cofa," Danny acknowledged, completely at ease as he slumped into his chair. Body language relaxed and uncaring at sharing the room with a former challenger. The roots of the Tamaranian's stark red hair were turning white, the tips of crows feet were creeping at the edges of his eyes. He'd bodily aged from a young adult to a middle aged man since their brawl over three hundred years ago. Danny wondered if Cofa still felt pride in his position in this army that wouldn't let him go.
Even after centuries of, presumably, willing service.
A small woman with skin as smooth and pale as milk had entered the room behind the fuming Tamaranian. Her braided, wavy black hair fell to her waist and only made her long face seem longer. Her green eyes weren't quite right, something about them made Danny sure she wasn't human. Like maybe the pupils were too big or something like that. There was a quality about her that made her almost unnaturally beautiful.
The new pair took the seats farthest from the Eldest in the room, Cofa throwing glares in the halfa's direction at every chance. Clearly their altercation wasn't water under the bridge for him. Funny, Danny had almost forgotten the other man even existed.
"I can't believe I'm going to have to work with you." Cofa grumbled a bit too loudly, his voice emphasized as they echoed slightly against the blank walls. He rubbed at the scar that marred the right side of his temple, roughly the size and shape of a handprint, as he slouched into his chair.
"Is that what we're doin' here?" Phoebe asked as she leaned away from Danny's space and into the half circle their chairs formed. Her attention shifting to the potentially more informed soldier.
"What?" Cofa scoffed as he pulled his hand away from his face to cross his arms, visibly annoyed at the young woman's gaull to question him. "Have you never been enrolled in a Special Missions Unit?"
Danny heard the sorceress beside him take in a sharp breath before he tilted his head in her direction to see her. The tension had returned to her body and her skin lost the little color it had. He wanted to ask her about the significance to Cofa's words when the door opened one final time. Five Officers, all wielding Omnia Control Gauntlets walked into the room, two taking station at the doors, two at the back of the room, and the final moving into the center of the semi circle the soldiers chairs made up.
"Good morning." The shorter than average, balding, whitest white man you've ever seen, greeted with a sneer. His eyes locked onto each Super Powered being as he assessed them, gaze piercing through them with a look of disdain so powerful Danny was surprised no one grunted in mock pain.
Guess he was the only jokester among them. Dang.
When no one replied to his greeting, the man grit his teeth and huffed before he took a single step towards them and spit, "I said," he growled as his eyes flitted between them. "Good morning."
He's one of those, Danny mentally groaned as he rolled his eyes and slouched further into his chair. A weak chorus of greetings came from the mouths of the other soldiers as Danny and Raven's lips remained tight and locked shut.
Mostly appeased, the speaker shot the immortal pair a harsh glare as his arms moved to cross against his back. He stood as still as a stone as he jut out his chin and spoke. "I am Captain Brooker." He introduced emotionlessly as his eyes roamed over each individual.
"You have been selected for this Special Missions Unit due to your talents and abilities." A tightening fist, knuckles cracking at the pressure as the disdain in Brooker's eyes revealed his thoughts on Meta soldiers and their value. "This meeting will be our brief before you're sent out to dress, eat, and prepare. All of you will be expected in Bay 3 at 10:00 hours. Understood?" A quiet affirmative, a few nods, and a darkening expression forming on both the halfa and the speaker's faces.
"The following is all you need to know until departure." He continued as he walked towards the seated Tamaranian and his current partner. "The objective is to locate and retrieve an artifact within the core of a dead planet." Danny heard a soft gasp from one of the occupants in the room but was unable to drag his attention from the arrogant asshole who was giving them the rundown.
"Cofa. Shii." Brooker grunted as he looked at the red headed alien and unnaturally beautiful woman. "You two are on defensive duty." He instructed before he walked to the next pair, the blue skinned woman and the body builder female. "Vaulk. Jones." He commanded pointing to the alien first, then the woman. "You'll be terraforming and temperature regulating." He informed them before he pulled his arm back to his side and moved to the next pair. "Grsulle." He sneered at the Thanagarian as his mouth curled around the surname with an unpleasant twist to his tongue. "Fox. You're on offensive." He stared before he turned his body, ever so slightly, towards the last pair.
The look of distrust and disgust somehow even more prominent than the others he'd thrown about during his rant. The hatred so obvious in a way Danny hadn't even thought possible. The man despised them. "Roth. Nightingale. You're our jack of all trades. You float to help whoever needs it." He finished as his hands resumed their position against his back and he took a few steps backwards to resume his position in the middle of their semi-circle of chairs. "Questions?" He asked, obviously not planning on having to answer any. The man clearly thought his anger was intimidating.
How wrong he was.
"If we are infiltrating a dead planet. Why do we need offensive and defensive units?" Raven asked without hesitation, her tone as dead and unimpressed as the gaze in her eyes as she stared down the Captain.
"Better yet. Why do we need so many people?" Danny tagged on as he gestured with his left hand. Also unimpressed and unintimidated by the mortal man. "Why do we need soldiers instead of archeologists?" The halfa asked as he tried and failed to suppress the forming smirk while he watched Brooker's face redden in rage.
Brooker took a slow breath before the hue to his skin faded. He looked to the half ghost and his gaze turned calculating. "Those are not the kinds of questions I will be answering." The Captain informed the immortal before a cruel smile sprouted on his face as he looked at the ex-Hero. "I know for some of you, there is a history of insurgency." He spat the last word as though it had been a bite from a rotten fruit. "You may be thinking, 'This is my chance.' Whether it's a chance to get back at us for what you may think of this honor as 'wrongful imprisonment'." His voice distorted into a mockery as he spoke the last two words, taunting them. "Or perhaps, you think it's a chance at freedom?" Brooker asked as the door to the room clicked and slid open.
Hard footsteps echoed into the room as their late-comer joined in. "Those hopes die here. You're coming back with us alive-" the Captain's smile grew wider, showing off his white teeth. A large, muscular, dark haired man, dressed in black Kevlar stepped into the semi-circle and pulled gasps from the soldiers, from the ones who had only been instated for mere months to the one who had lived for far, far too long. All of them in states of surprise or shock, save for the red head who had clearly already known. "Or dead."
He looked exactly like Clark. Down to the blue of his eyes. They had a Superman clone. They had a fucking Superman clone.
Shit. There's no way he was the only one Earth had. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
"S-142 will be joining us for this mission." Brooker informed them as he patted the bulging bicep that had stopped to stand next to him. "Dismissed."
The Special MIssions unit candidates scattered like roaches, practically running out of the room and out of the reach of the clone of Earth's Strongest Hero. After checking the clock, Danny could see they only had a little more than an hour to get ready for intergalactic travel and decided the cafeteria slop could wait.
"I'm gonna head back to the room, Rae." He told her as he turned from her and threw a thumb over his shoulder.
Showers. He needed a shower.
He didn't even manage to fully turn in the correct direction before his path was blocked by dark wings protruding from the spine of the Thanagarian before him.
"You," Sho grunted, gaze harsh and unyielding as it beamed onto the halfa's slightly shorter form. "You were the black haired devil, stronger than any would have guessed and skilled with a blade." Brown eyes flicked to the sorceress behind the other man, before they returned to the undead specimen. "You broke my hands."
Danny blinked in surprise and looked over the enslaved alien with fresh, calculating eyes. "I-" he stuttered, flabbergasted as he looked at the old opponent as his tone turned into a guilt filled, pained voice that threatened to crack. "I thought I killed everyone I fought."
Sho's eyes narrowed before he shook his head once as his fiery haired partner looked on with a shocked expression from behind his resting wings. "This was the first day. You spared a few hundred that day. No others."
"I-" Danny struggled as he stared at the other man. Forcing his memory back into the trenches, envisioning the soldier before him in Thanagarian garb. "... Sword guy?"
A quirked eyebrow, but no other hint to the emotions of the wooden winged wonder. "I wielded a sword. Yes."
"Oh." Oh. OH. What can I even say in this scenario? Danny thought to himself as he pressed a hand against his face and dragged it against the skin there. There's gotta be something better than fucking 'oh'!
"Is it true what he said back there?" Sho asked when Danny failed to follow up his 'oh' with anything at all. The halfa's head jerked up in surprise at the question. "That you are an insurgent?"
"I-" Danny uttered before he became at a loss for words. The situation was so bizarre and the conversation so unsettling he was almost visibly short circuiting in the hallway. "I thought everyone knew that." He said almost too quietly to himself as his eyes moved to stare into the skin of his palm. "Why?"
Sho let out a slight huff of breath and some tension melted out of his shoulders. His imposing form became a little less soldier and a lot more person as exhaustion infiltrated his brown eyes. "A human with your strength..." A heavy sigh as the weight of something internal, and only known to Sho, was lifted. "One I had thought was a willing volunteer." He continued, his gaze unwavering from the Fenton before him. "I thought you killed our people for fun." He spat the words as though they were comprised of rotten fruit. "For sport." His imposing figure took a rough step forward until the two men's chests were nearly touching. "Why did you kill them?"
"So they wouldn't end up here." Like you, those two words were internalized, but everyone heard them in his pause and read them in the blue of his eyes. "Or worse." Danny continued as his gaze turned to steel and his posture straightened at his resolve. "There are many things worse than death." His hand curled into a tight fist as unwanted memories made their way to the surface.
(Skin, tight to the bone, muscles atrophied from years of experimentation and containment. Blood, dried to the walls, stains impossible to get out. Screaming, endless nights in an embrace as they prayed to any deity who would listen to bring peace to their thoughts and to *just let them rest*. Regret, that he'd let the transgressors go. Revenge, when they'd come after them.)
"I've lived them."
"If your words are honest," the Thanagarian replied as he scrutinized the other brunette,"then we are allies." He announced as though the decision wasn't sending Danny's thoughts into an uncontrolled spiral of absolute confusion. "I am Sho." He greeted as he held out a hand.
"Uh, Danny." The halfa replied as he took the appendage. He blinked up at the winged warrior in appalled disbelief, naked concern in his expression that the bird man before him had gone insane. "I'm sorry I broke your hands?" What even was this conversation?
"Don't be." Sho reassured with a shake to his head as they pulled their hands apart. "It allowed me a few weeks of reprieve while I recovered. A few more weeks without fighting."
"At least... that's something?" Danny stuttered as Phoebe approached the pair and lightly touched Sho on his bicep.
"Food!" She exclaimed childishly as she tugged him, her whole body heaving at the motion. Her grunt echoed down the hallway as Sho remained unmoved by her attempts, an amused smile sprouting on his face the only result of her efforts.
He bodily turned from the conversation and began to walk towards the cafeteria. "I will see you in the loading bay." The Thanagarian called back to the immortal pair as he left.
"Right. See you." Danny uttered as he stared at the winged back of a man he had once had to fight for his life against. Of a man he killed thousands of his people. Was that Sho offering his forgiveness? Danny didn't want it. Danny didn't deserve it. Why is his luck so awful.
"Ancients." The halfa whispered as his hand came up to brace against his forehead, the confrontation had brought on a headache. "What the fuck." The words were hissed under his breath as he rubbed at his temples and began his trek towards his room. A second set of footsteps joined him to his right, a quick glance confirmed his demonic partner's presence. "Guess you're joining me?"
"A shower is higher on my list of priorities than a visit to the cafeteria." Raven stated simply with a shrug as they approached their room. The interaction was a well practiced performance. A well hidden code: 'I want to talk'.
"Yeah, okay." He agreed easily as he waved his right hand against the door scanner. His lack of an Omnia in his left was an oversight he did not plan to bring attention to just yet. While it was easy for Danny to lose a hand, he was still scared stiff of losing his head. And his partner couldn't go through the same appendage loss program he could and walk away unaffected. Centuries of yearly attempts to jostle the Omnia still embedded in his partner without raising suspicion had not been successful.
Yet.
Steam filled their small bathroom as the pair of immortals waited. Raven stood against the door while Danny lounged against the sink's counter as the humidity spiked. They'd learned long ago that condensation was an excellent way to obscure the Light-Wire's vision. Obscuring its listening in capabilities was a bit less complex.
Once the steam was at a dense enough level, Danny moved towards his companion, his back against the door before he slid down until his butt hit the floor. Raven sat, more gracefully, next to him before darkness overtook them and her magic hid their words from the surveillance.
"Shoot."
"I have concerns," Raven began slowly as she crossed her legs beneath her. "The roster."
"Roster?" Danny parroted confused as his head tilted its axis.
"The people they're sending." She clarified as she crossed her legs, her hands tightening into a white knuckled grip around her knees. "Other than the Orinocas, the only specialized powers are 'terraforming and temperature regulating'."
"O-rhino-cass?"
"Cofa's partner." Raven replied, her irritation at having to answer more questions than she had anticipated growing more and more obvious with each additional inquiry. "An alien species that has excellence in telekinesis and telepathy." She told him after a long, tired sigh.
"Oh, bug eye lady." Danny exclaimed with a mischievous grin, a little exaggerating to ease the tension. A joke at a random person's expense to help Raven lose her tension.
A soft scoff, an annoyed eye roll that truly meant she was amused. A mission successful. "She does not have bug eyes and you are derailing me."
"Sorry." He apologized not sorry at all, as he leaned into her space to lightly bump his shoulder against hers in hopes it would prompt her to continue to talk.
"My point is that most of the people selected are powerhouses." She told him as her fingernails bit into the fabric of her sweats, her features scrunched into a look of concern.
"Meaning they know this mission is dangerous and they don't know what we're up against?" Danny guessed as he put together the pieces she had laid out for him.
"Precisely."
"Okay." Danny said aloud to himself as his face turned from hers to stare at his feet. An empty gaze as his mind rushed to come to terms with the true potential danger they were about to be immersed in. "Okay. We gotta be extra careful. Got it." Game face on, the halfa's eyes snapped back to hers as his tone took a turn towards hopeful. "Do you think this could be our chance?" He asked as his expression hardened against the urge to hope. "Our chance to escape?"
She hesitated, her lip twitching at the edge as she repressed an unseen emotion. "Perhaps." Raven agreed quietly as her shoulders caved slightly inward as if to protect her from an unknown threat. "However, that Superman clone is a force we cannot underestimate."
"I mean, I fought Supes and held my own okay." Danny offered with a casual hand gesture.
Raven shook her head as her shoulders pulled back to fix her posture. "With the Omnia factor, we would need to prioritize the soldiers first." She told him as her fingers released their death grips on her knees. "But assuming Cofa's allegiance has not changed and his partner is also loyal to the Empire," she paused to let out a tired and weary sigh. "We don't fully know what we're up against." The whisper easily reached his ears despite the volume of the nearby spraying water. "We could easily be overrun in a fight if we are not careful. Can you honestly tell me you can handle Cofa and a Superman clone while simultaneously attempting to rip off Omnia gauntlets?" The sorceress asked as she finally turned the entirety of her head to scrutinize his response. Prepared to rip his words bare for the truth if he tried to lie.
"... No." He begrudgingly admitted as his head slumped and his slouch intensified. "I-" the halfa scoffed at himself in frustration that he couldn't provide a different answer. "I'm pretty sure they'd manage to hit the shutdown before I could land a punch." And I can't risk your life. The thought sprouted from the depths of his heart before he was able to smother it.
While the pair were now easily best friends, he wasn't exactly comfortable yet with how deeply her everything had been embedded into his life. From her silent moments to the rare chuckle he could get out of her. From the rough nights full of frustrated tears to the bright days where he managed to make her smile. She was a lighthouse in an ocean of emotion that he felt he was constantly drowning in. His only guide to the shore of normalcy. And he hated how easy it had been for her to commandeer his heart.
Since all of the others who had rights to it were now only dust.
"With the Orinocas, her telekinesis is practically an insurance the gauntlet will never leave their side." The words snapped him out of his internal spiral, so jarring an effect he nearly jumped in surprise. Only stopping himself in the last moment. Raven quirked an eyebrow at him but continued speaking as though there had been no interruption, emotional or otherwise. "If we decide to go for it, we'd need to take her out first. Then the soldiers, then Cofa and the clone."
Danny shook his head, the thoughts rattled against his skull as he forced himself to focus on her words and commit them to memory. "Got it."
"That's only if we decide to go for it," she stressed as her knuckles tightened around the material of her sweatpants. "Honestly, getting out isn't my main prerogative." She whispered as her eyes gained a far away look to them before she blinked back into focus and looked at her partner with sheer determination.
Danny blinked before he recoiled away from her in shock, his waist bending a bit too far to be natural for a full human. "Why am I just now learning this?"
"Because I've struggled. To-" she faltered as the skin around her lips grew taught, Danny could hear her teeth as they ground together. "-To admit it."
"Then-" Danny stuttered as he stared at his companion with absolute befuddlement. "Then what do you want Rae? 'Cause I was operating under the assumption you wanted to get the fuck out of here."
"It's not enough to be free." She whispered so quietly it was as though the words had been said only for herself. Her brows scrunched as she closed her eyes before all four opened. A red hot glow emanating an aura of unspeakable rage. "They need to pay." She hissed before she blinked and the red was gone alongside the extra, demonic, pair of eyes. "I'm going to shut it down."
"Oh." He chuckled and scratched at the back of his head. "Shit Rae, you had me worried for a second there." Danny let loose a toothy grin, eyes crinkling with mischief and confidence. "Some good 'ol anarchy, huh? Count me in."
"Danny, you don't have to help-"
"Um! Of course I do." The halfa interrupted as he placed a hand over hers and leaned into her space. "I'm all for getting back at the system! Don't leave me outta the fun!" He asked playfully, smothering the hurt that sprung up in his heart as she pulled her hand out from under his.
"The point is," Raven growled before she let out a sigh, her shoulders losing their tension. "I'm not necessarily going to attempt escape during our mission unless it proves a guarantee." Her eyes were far away as she looked past him, regret marring her features for the briefest of moments before it was gone. In a blink, she was looking back at him as neutral as she normally was, as though nothing had happened "I'd rather bide my time here and dismantle it from within."
"Well, I'll wait for your signal. How 'bout that?" Danny asked as he stood and turned to offer her his hand. They were out of time to talk. They still had to dunk their heads in the water and leave the bathroom in a towel to sell the lie.
"It will suffice." Raven replied as she took the offered appendage and he helped her to her feet while the silencing spell dispersed around them.
After dunking their heads in the shower's spray for a minute to soak their hair, the duo proceeded to exit the bathroom, towels adorned. Danny ran about their bedroom like a maelstrom. He ran about, grabbing his tooth and hairbrush, changing his clothes into his official soldiers garb, before finally racing into the bathroom to actually brush his teeth and hair. Raven, on the other hand, moved around the room in an organized fashion. She took each step to prepare with methodical, calculated steps to ensure maximum efficiency as the Fenton tornado rampaged around her.
Despite the difference in method, the duo finished getting ready at about the same time. Danny combed with his fingers at the hair against the back of his neck. Frowning at the way it curled and tickled at his skin, he approached his ready roommate as the Demoness scanned her hand against the door's interface.
And then they were off.
Off to the unknown and unwanted adventure.
The walk to the loading bay was quiet. Danny didn't really know what to say and Raven wasn't much of a talker. The halfa caught a few people staring as they passed, but they turned away as quickly as he'd caught them, clearly unwilling to actually talk to him. Must be a slow day in the rumor mill, he thought to himself as Raven scanned her hand at the doors to the loading bay.
Large, black wings immediately drew his eye, the feathers ruffling at the sound of the door's components clicking together as it automatically opened. Sho eyed them from over his companion's shoulder briefly before he turned his head back to the conversation the duo had stumbled upon.
"I'm just sayin' Sho." Phoebe whispered, her voice quiet and hard to catch for any and all un-enhanced ears, but loud and clear as day for Danny to hear. "I don't wanna be-" she choked on her breath before her head dropped towards the floor and her quiet voice somehow grew quieter. "I don't want it to end up like them others. Ya know?"
"I know." The Thanagarian whispered as he placed a gentle, loving, hand under her chin to tilt her face up towards his. "I'm so sorry, My Flame."
" 'T's alright." The fire girl replied back as she shrugged her left shoulder. "Ain'tcha fault." The muscles in her back tightened before Phoebe turned abruptly to see the audience she had been unaware of. "Oh!" She exclaimed as a hand flew up to press against her breast. "Y'all scared me." She told them though a half laugh as her feet turned to properly face them, hands on her hips as she jokingly scolded them. "Now, how long you been standing there? Eavesdroppin' like a couple-a grannies wit nothin' better to do?"
"We just got here." The halfa reassured her as he stopped to stand from across the other duo.
"Oh." Phoebe paused, immediately losing her playful disapproval as her head cocked to the side in curiosity. "Is it that close to ten?"
"Punctuality is important." Raven muttered as she walked around Danny and towards the still sealed ship.
"We're early." Danny answered as he rolled his eyes and smiled at the lighthearted fire woman. Another set of footsteps became known as its sound grew louder in its approach.
"No such thing." A female soldier told them, her half harnessed garb suggesting her status as a pilot. She walked up to the under belly of the ship and flicked open a control panel. "Go ahead and board. We're leaving in ten minutes." She told them as she pressed a few buttons, a click, a hiss, and the ramp began to descend.
"Is Captain Butcher not coming?" Danny asked lightheartedly as he pretended to not be in the middle of memorizing her movements. Most of the time the pilot of their deployment ship was already settled by the time he got to it. He eyed the ship's ID number and memorized the woman's face. Short brown hair, heart shaped face, mean brown eyes. Got it.
Just in case.
She turned her head to glare at the halfa before letting out a gruff response. "Move it." She grunted before she boarded the ship herself.
Five regular soldiers proceeded to trickle into the ship in the minutes it took for the first four enhanced units to settle. Cofa and his partner were the next set to appear. They say across from the immortals after the Tamaranian had thrown a harsh stink eye at Danny. A couple more soldiers boarded and seated themselves before a more decorated man appeared in the fuselage. The Superman clone hovering around him like his only mission in life was to protect the decorated officer.
"Where's Captain Breaker-Box?" Danny asked as S-142 moved to stand next to the exit, form stiff and imposing. Just like his resting bitch face.
"Captain Brooker," the officer hissed as he eyed the last two empty seats. "Does briefs and debriefs only for S.M.U.'s like this. He will not be joining us today." The officer checked the device on his left wrist before he turned to the seated soldiers with a sneer.
Before he could open his mouth the ramp shook as the last two enhanced finally emerged into the loading bay. The strong woman gently moved the smaller blue one off of her back, sweat glistening in the artificial light off of her exposed arms. The pair moved to their seats and began to strap themselves in without a word as the decorated officer moved towards the intercom system at the front of the ship.
A button click and the sudden sound of static appeared before the officer spoke in his smooth voice. " Das, all passengers are loaded."
Another click before the pilot's voice rang out against the metal of the ship. "Rodger that. Preparing for take off, Commander Jackson."
And they were off.
The transition into space was smooth after the first small drop. Despite his lack of being belted in, S-142 didn't even jerk when the ship blasted into hyperspace. Danny desperately wished the ship had been designed with windows in the holding bay. This smaller ship was probably faster than the Mother Ship he had spent so many years on. He couldn't imagine how breathtakingly beautiful moving faster than light speed would look. This was real life science fiction stuff and he was missing it!
Time passed miserably slowly. Danny had no idea how long they'd been sardined away into this particular war machine but he was, inevitably, losing his sanity. With every additional moment passed, every tapped foot, every bounced knee, and finger click, the halfa felt more and more in need to get the fuck out of here. No one, not even the grumpy Commander Jackson, had unbuckled themselves. Everyone was in the same boat. It was just hitting harder for Danny than the rest. Ancients, it's too fucking quiet.
"Hey, Danny." The sudden sound felt louder and more jarring than a gunshot. His head whipped towards the whisper before his gaze landed on the person to his right.
Soft, kind brown eyes met his. "I had another question 'bout immortality." Phoebe told him before her expression turned sheepish as she looked at all of the eyes that had landed on the woman who dared to speak. She turned her head back to him when no one objected or moved to silence her. "If ya don't mind."
"Shoot." Danny said too quickly after he had tried and miserably failed to speak the word slowly.
"Do ya wanna only make friends with other immortals? Or are mortals on the table?" Jackson's scoff echoed against the ship's interior but her brown eyes never wavered from the halfa's face. Her inquiry was soft but sincere as she continued to look at him with too much kindness.
The tension that had built up in his shoulders was immediately lost as he let out a soft breath. "We can be friends." Danny told her with a small smile.
"Don't reckon I asked that, exactly." The fire sparked in her locks and her lips curled into a teasing grin.
Danny's grin became as wide as hers as he began his retort. "Well, excuse me prin-" his words were lost as the ship jerked harshly, the sharp ear piercing sound of a metal hull scraping against something relentless.
A buzzing sound had his spine stiffing in anticipation, but when the basic soldiers in the cabin began unbuckling the halfa forced himself to relax. He was reaching for his own harness when the ship was wildly rocked to each side, tossing the babysitters about like a salad.
S-142 did an excellent job stabilizing the majority of the Earth loyalists. The rest found their footing and managed to scramble back into their seats when the ship jerked again. Metal screamed in protest as the loading bay doors were harshly stabbed by something sharp, but not sharp enough to pierce through the hull entirely.
Danny grit his teeth as the sound of the attack went from manageable to downright spine chilling. The ship jerked around them and the scraping sound intensified all around them for a brief moment. The halfa's grip on his harness was becoming dangerously close to destroying the damn thing. He forced his fingers to loosen their grip as the attack faded and the ship stabilized.
The loading ramp clicked and began to descend, revealing a wild and overgrown forest tinged with grey in the distance. The ship was hovering over a section of plains, the only foliage nearby was tall grey-green straw. In the distance, long green tendrils could be seen as they fell through the sky, back towards the tree tops. Back towards the dirt. The intercom clicked on before the pilot, Das, began to speak. "Commander Jackson, Plan Beta is a go."
"Roger." Jackson confirmed as he unbuckled his harness before he turned to S-142. "Get all of our loyalists down. Prioritize safety."
S-142 nodded once before he grabbed the nearest two soldiers who had managed to unbuckle themselves. Danny watched as the Superman clone jumped out of the hovering craft without any hesitation and reappeared within the next minute. Damn, he'd forgotten how fast supes was.
A gentle hand pressed against his left bicep. He turned to see his demonic partner and blinked in surprise at the clear as day, completely unrepressed concern contorting her features. He managed to get out a short "Rae?" Before she cut him off with an intense glare as her eyes cut around the room before landing back on his own. The halfa sighed, but acquiesced that whatever the issue was she wasn't comfortable voicing it around their current company.
He unbuckled his harness as the Demoness stood from her seat. The other enhanced units were in various stages of departure as she took his hand. The pair jumped out of the ship, as they descended, her hand pulled away from his. Danny realized from their altitude, that the grasslands below them were even and curving. He looked across the horizon to see more of the thick line of grass as they continued to fall. It curled across the land in a way that reminded him of crop circles on Earth.
Eventually, he lost too much altitude to ogle at the oddity. He landed next to Sho, whose dark wings were folding against his back as he set his partner to the ground. S-142 landed with a harsh thud and set the paired women with the rest of the group. Heads swiveled to the sky to watch their transport disappear into the mesosphere, but Danny looked at the Commander.
Jackson was looking to the west. To the trees at the edge of the field, and beyond them to the leaves as they rustled. Tension grew in the halfa's body as he watched, something off about what he could see. A soft wind blew his black hair across his brow when he realized the leaves rustling wasn't from the wind. It was too soft a blow to make the forest capable of rattling the way it was. The halfa's eyes widened as he met the deadly serious eyes of their Commander. The ground had a slight tremble to it as Jackson cleared his throat.
"Get digging."
The bulky woman sharply turned to look at the Commander in surprise. "Um." Jones muttered as she looked to the dirt and then back to her superior. "How deep?"
"To the center of the planet." Jackson replied face grim as his head turned away from the horizon to face his unit.
"He was being literal?" Jones asked in astonishment as she took a step back, nearly toppling her partner over.
"Yes, Jones." The Commander growled as his head swiveled to the side before refocusing on the woman before him. As though he were fighting to not look behind him. "Dig! We aren't here to play twenty questions."
"Go on, Rose." The blue, bald alien at her side whispered to her as she placed a kind hand on her arm. "You are more than capable."
"Right. Yeah." Rose spoke to herself, bouncing lightly on the tips of her toes. Her pink hair stayed up in its mohawk, standing towards the sky without fail. Danny wondered how she'd managed to get approval to keep whatever hair product was capable of feats like that. "Dig to the center of a planet. Easy peasy."
The ring in her nose glinted in the sunlight as Rose stiffened her shoulders and threw her hands out in front of her, angled towards the ground. The dirt beneath her palm shifted as the earth below them trembled. Suddenly, the fields were torn apart, a steeply angled tunnel wide enough for a little more than two people to walk comfortably side by side, appeared on the surface. Dust sprung into the air, the prelude to the chorus of coughing that came from her audience. A wisp of black magic washed through the area and pulled the particles away from everyone's esophagus before more than irritation could occur. The sudden haze in the air vanished, and Rose stood in the center of the new path, the rock around her engulfed in a fading pink glow.
The muscular woman moved into the manmade rocky maw, her arms outstretched and glowing with more of the pink energy as her partner, Vaulk, followed quickly behind her. Loud shuffling from minerals being forced to move like they'd never had before echoed through the tunnel as Commander Jackson began to order everyone inside.
"Okay." Jackson began before he turned to S-142. "Loyalists in first." At his command the nearest soldiers hurried behind the enhanced woman. Clone Kent floated before the hole as the Commander turned his attention to the remaining enhanced. "Sho, Fox get down there. Jones will need light."
As the Thanagarian and Human pair wearily approached the hole, Jackson turned his piercing gaze to S-142. "Priority Alpha. Deadly force authorized."
At the clone's nod, the Commander turned to the last pair of enhanced units. His eyes darted to the horizon, briefly, before he let out a deep sigh. Tension rising in his already tense shoulders as he blinked and moved his eyes back to glare at his remaining unit.
"Roth, maintain the integrity of the tunnel. Shii stay with me." He told the two women before his gaze landed on Danny. "Cofa, keep an eye on Nightingale. Cover us as we descend and you're both in the rear. No lollygagging. Got it?"
"Yes, Sir." Cofa practically growled the words as he turned to glare at the halfa. Jackson turned his back to them and began his trek towards the tunnel as Danny crossed his arms and scoffed.
"Hmph."
"I don't like this anymore than *you do." Cofa hissed as soon as the Commander was out of sight. His own arms crossed in disdain as the redhead tilted his body away from the other man.
"Really? Cause I was looking forward to this bonding experience!" The human exclaimed sarcastically as he surveyed the area. The tree-like foliage in the distance had ceased their rattling as the ground beneath his feet rumbled and shook while the earth shifted mere meters away from him. Cofa watched his every movement like a hawk, visibly analyzing his minute actions and having internal debates on each muscle shift and whether or not the halfa was about to make a run for it.
He wasn't going to try anything while the clone was between him and Raven.
Danny huffed and rolled his head back to press the base of his skull lightly against his shoulders as he glared at the sky, bored. The rumbling from Rose continued to get louder, the ground more and more unstable. He shifted his weight onto the tips of his toes as he debated floating for better stability when his heart caught in his throat.
Something was wrong.
Icy blue eyes scanned the horizon as he pivoted slowly. Danny forced himself to take in every minor detail as he tried to identify what was making him so on edge. What the source of the gooseflesh rising on his skin could possibly be. What could possibly be nagging at the back of his mind? It had to be something uncanny. Like having seen something before in reality, but in a dream, everything was backwards or shifted to the left a couple of inches. Like seeing something humanoid but just different enough to make you want to look away. Something just off enough to make you want to look again.
The pebbles at his feet began to bounce from the increasing tremors and his head snapped down to look at them. The shards of rock and clumps of dirt next to his toes were dancing erratically as he pressed his knee into the earth to kneel.
"What?" Cofa spat as he floated slightly closer to the halfa, firmly within grabbing range but unwilling to investigate as his posture remained upright and straight.
Danny didn't dignify the alien with a response as he focused on the grass, on the dirt, on the way the pebbles only grew more agitated with their movements. He pressed a hand against the ground and closed his eyes as he felt, truly felt, the vibrations in the ground. Their intensifying rhythm increasing in frequency from his right.
Rose was at his left.
Danny jumped up and opened his mouth to warn Cofa when several large vine-like plants burst through the roots of the tall grass beside them, their ends pointed and sharper than a metal blade.
Cofa jerked in surprise at the ambush and the moment of shock was more than enough time for the first of the vines to rush at him.
"Look out!" The halfa cried as the vines closed the distance, the closest of them about to pierce the Tamaranian's heart. The half ghost rushed forward and shoved the red head out of the way, just in time to take the blow himself. A sharp pain in his gut, the burn of tearing flesh and freshly spilt blood.
When suddenly, Danny wasn't Danny anymore.
He was something else, somewhere else and the sky was full of tentacles. Larger than life, grotesque in their coloration, and thicker than skyscrapers. They writhed as they encircled him as beams of green, blue, purple, and red flickered around him like nats on a horse's ass.
The sky itself was being torn apart as the largest appendages pushed at the edges of its gateway. The sight was terrifyingly beautiful as the cosmos were crushed to make way for the beast, a single large eye emerging from the hole before him.
An echo of a thought passed through his mind, it reached out to the colorful specs as they fought and flew around their attacker. It has almost emerged. We are out of options. It communicated to them, without words, through feeling and intent. Words a foreign and impossible concept for whatever Danny was.
A wave of sadness flooded his being as their thoughts and emotions echoed back through the temporary connection before it was ceased. He began to move, slowly at first, but surely picking up speed towards the behemoth. His body rammed into the beast's eye and the exertion on his body was felt to the very atom as he forced the beast back from whence it came.
Everything around him was glowing, glowing a bright green that screamed of power and determination. Brighter and brighter it burned. The lights intensity comparative to that of the Sun itself as it burned so hot and so strong Danny couldn't stand it any longer and had to look away.
Suddenly, the green light was gone, the halfa opened his eyes to see the beast was gone too. He was so tired, so exhausted he could no longer move. No longer hear or connect with the little colorful specs as they frantically flew around him. Something felt broken deep inside of him, within his core. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he was somewhere else.
Danny was still that same something, he could feel it in the way it thought, in the way it moved. It was unlike anything else he'd ever possessed. Was this a possession? It felt like a dream, or a memory. He couldn't really tell the difference at the moment. Whatever Danny was, he was floating in space a very far distance from a collection of small green specks as they talked to one another, his mind securely connected to the others to take part in the conversation. It was using their eyes to see.
"-leave Earth defenceless!" A tall, dark man cried as the assortment of aliens around him looked at the human with either pity or impatience at the outburst.
"They're hardly defenceless, John!" A blue skinned alien wearing a very similar green outfit rebutted with a glare. "The Justice League is more than capable of handling intergalactic threats for the few short years we need to handle the threat."
"What could be terrible enough to warrant pulling every Green Lantern for?" The human demanded as he crossed his arms and surveyed the group as he waited for an answer.
"The Old Ones are ripping the fabric of reality apart at the other side of the universe." The first alien responded, others nodding in agreement at the statement before he continued. "Even the Red Lantern Corps have agreed to assist us with neutralizing the threat!"
"Great! Sounds like you have enough people." John argued before he began to turn away.
"Enough, Stewart!" Another alien cried as he flew towards the dark skinned man. "You will either join us or relinquish your ring. The choice is yours."
At the ultimatum, John paused and turned to lock eyes with his fellow over his shoulder. He sighed, "... How long do I have to think about it?"
"We can allow-" Were the last words he'd heard when the vision was suddenly cut off and Danny was suddenly himself again. Suddenly back in his mind and suddenly back in his body that was in the midst of horrible terrible agony.
"Fuck!" The halfa cried as his hands flew up to clutch at the appendage burning away at the skin of his throat. Heart desperately pounding away in his chest as another slithering vine was crumbling to embers between his ribs. He flailed and grabbed the burning plant matter, ripping it out and off of his body with extreme prejudice. The two silhouettes above him moved about agitatedly, with rough movements and quick swipes as more vines reached for them.
Fire met his fingertips as he removed his attacker. Danny rolled to his side and struggled to his knees as he continued to pry the vegetation from his chest cavity. The half ghost hissed in pain as he summoned ice to quelch the flames that were ravaging his insides. A cold relief swept through him as his ectoplasm got to work on damage control. He pulled the last of the charred plant matter out with a harsh yank as a low hiss escaped from between his clenched teeth. Finally, two familiar white rings erupted at his sternum and moved up and down his body. The gore fest that had once been his torso was replaced with freshly exposed skin, uniform ruined, and the bruising/burning around his neck was gone.
The halfa let out a low groan of relief as the pain vanished. He blinked slowly as he lifted his head to take in his surroundings, fire coated the fields that encircled him and his illuminated allies.
Phoebe's small silhouette was beautiful against the wildfire that had begun to spread behind her. Her fingers curled into fists, bright with their own fire that looked just as wild and untameable as the flames she'd birthed in battle and set free on this alien planet.
Sho landed beside her wielding an Earthen Empire standard blade coated in green goo, before it was sheathed into the scabbard hidden between his wings. He turned to the dark skinned woman and spoke between the fire's crackles, a sound which had fully consumed Danny's ability to listen. Thus, Sho's words to her were lost to him. The way she snuffed out the light in her fists before her body met the Thanagarian's in a weary slump spoke of relief and reassurances. Whatever had been spoken was not necessary for Danny to hear.
The battle was over.
For now.
Dirt shifted next to Danny's still kneeling and hunched form. The halfa's neck jerked as he jumped, ready to fight for his life and die trying when his gaze landed on ruffled red hair, a scarred face, and tired eyes.
Cofa was bent at his knees, his right hand extended towards the immortal man in silent offering. Danny blinked in shock at the action, his eyes quickly darting between the appendage and Cofa's steady eyes. Alien rich green pupils were pools of begrudging respect that were slowly but surely becoming replaced with agitation moment by moment.
Without any further hesitation, he took the Tamaranian's hand and was pulled to his feet without a word. No thanks were given from either party as they immediately let go and began to move towards the other pair of fighters.
"Kim has informed me that the integrity of the tunnel will only last a few hundred meters." Cofa told the other pair as Danny took in the remnants of the battlefield. Some sort of plant monster had attacked them. It must have been what had been causing the disturbance on the horizon. But why? Why attack them in the first place? Was it territorial?
Lost in his thoughts he barely caught on to the tail end of Cofa's words. "We need to regroup with the others before our end of the cave collapses."
"Then we best get movin'." Phoebe's gentle southern touched voice chimed in before four sets of feet began to move towards the cavernous maw that lay behind them.
The dirt beneath their feet began to rumble once more as more vines sprouted from the soil behind them. Phoebe turned to shoot fire blast after fire blast at the approaching vegetation as Sho grabbed her by the waist and continued to fly low to the ground. Cofa's green starbursts met the plants that had not yet begun to burn as he flew backwards into the man-made cave.
Once Danny had crossed an unknown, invisible line, a signal (he was not privy to) was sent. The cave entrance collapsed onto the farthest reaching vines and crushed them beneath the weight of gravity and rock.
After the stone ceased to tumble it was silent. As quiet as a grave save for the inhabitant's shallow breaths that rang in his ears like the aftershock of a shot gun's blast. They were sealed in the darkness and the moment stretched for eternity in Danny's mind. The dark and quiet overtook everything. Suddenly, he was back in his body bag thrashing and scared and very much alive. Alive and confused and it was so, so dark and so, so quiet. Was he really alive-?
Flames burst forth from his right and he bit back a scream, his body jerking towards the source too quickly for human eyes to follow. Phoebe's brown eyes were creased with concern as she caught the wild look he'd accidentally thrown in her direction. Cofa's hands sparked into green light, further illuminating the cave and allowing the halfa to see Sho's grey wings as they softly fluttered. Dust erupted from between the plumage and down, into their air and onto his tongue.
The ground beneath them began to shake as the rocks from the collapsed tunnel began to tumble and shift. Danny locked eyes with each of his companions once, before everyone simultaneously rushed down the narrow corridor and deeper into the earth.
Rose's soft pink energy was a beacon against the darkness. When the combatants regrouped with the rest of their squad, Cofa did not hesitate to immediately inform Commander Jackson of the situation.
"The foliage is persisting." The rest of the soldiers, including the enhanced, did not seem surprised by the fact that their attackers were made of chlorophyll. Danny wondered how they'd been informed. Hell, hadn't Phoebe and Sho initially been in the cave?
"Damn." Jackson cursed as a hand came up to rub at his sun-spotted temple as he thought. "Shii, can you sense anything from these things?" He asked as he turned to Cofa's partner.
Shii shook her head, her lips shut tight as she gave Cofa a pointed look. "Kim can only communicate with unfamiliar sentient creatures through physical touch." Cofa informed the Commander, who groaned a soft "right" at the reminder. "She says there's a soft connection with the planet itself. A low level awareness. Do you want her to attempt contact?"
"No." Jackson barked, the harshest his voice had been with any of them up until this point. Cofa blinked at the intensity of the word as everyone around the Commander leaned back as if to avoid his hostility.
Jackson sighed and pulled his hand away from his head. "No. That's a risk we aren't taking Shii. Understood?" The human asked as he turned his glare to the telepath who nodded once when their eyes met. "Good. Jones, resume digging. Keep collapsing the cave behind us, maintain the tunnel to about half its current size." The Commander began to bark his orders once more.
"Roth, I want a barrier. Maintain protection and temperature regulation. Worry more about protection." At Jackson's words Raven began to cast, black magic curling over the stones at the front and bubbling up behind Danny to enclose the group.
"Vaulk, keep us cool. Phoebe, Cofa, Nightingale keep an eye out for more of those fuckers-" The Commander led each of them. Danny ended up in the middle next to S-142, easily the worst fucking place to be. Have you ever tried to talk to a brainwashed clone of Superman? Absolutely no sense of humor to start with. A part of Danny was afraid that if he so much as looked at him wrong he'd wake up reviving from becoming one with the tunnel walls.
Once properly grouped, the squad began to rapidly move towards the center of the planet. Vines regularly made their presence known as they dug through the first few layers. Each intruder was quickly dispatched with a blast of green energy or fire. Sho even managed to get a few swipes with his blade at the ones that had worked their way through Raven's barrier.
Everything was going good. Well, as good as a mission can go while under constant attack. Of course, that's when Murphy and his bullshit decided to interfere.
The ground beneath them rumbled. Those without enhanced capabilities, or the ability to fly, stumbled for proper footing as Shii cried out. The sound was rough and strained, almost animalistic in its sound as Kim fell to her knees and clutched at her skull. Her pale fingers became white as she gripped at her black hair and opened her mouth in a voiceless scream.
Danny gasped at the sudden pain in his own head, his hand flying up to press into his left eye. He stumbled at the weight that was suddenly pressing, pressing, pressing into his brain. Piercing his thoughts with its own. An intention that felt familiar, a way of communicating that Danny knew he'd felt before. Recently.
Get out.
Get out!
"Get out!!!" Danny cried with a voice that wasn't his own.
The halfa's mouth moved without his permission as the two words forced themselves free. Danny gasped and fought to break the connection as he realized he had been partially possessed. He mentally reached out for the weight that had settled under his skin, grabbed it with all of his mental fortitude and shoved it off and out. The halfa's previous overshadowing adventures from his youth was enough experience to shake off the attack. He stumbled to his feet just as the ground beneath him lost its integrity and crumbled.
Horribly hot wind rushed past his ears, surprised and pained shouts erupted from all around him. It took a few seconds of free fall in the darkness to shake off his disorientation before Danny remembered he could fly. He couldn't see much in the void, but he could see Phoebe's hair sparking below him as she continued to fall. A quickly distancing beacon in the chasm that he immediately gave chase to.
Flying at top speed, he managed to have her in his grasp within seconds. The fiery woman flailed in surprise at his unfamiliar hold and Danny almost got a fireball to the face for his efforts before she redirected the shot to the wall behind him.
"Danny!" Phoebe shouted with a grin as he flew down, following the falling fireball as it lit his way down. "Ya can't go grabbin' people! That's how ya get shot."
"It's also how you save people." Danny retorted a smile sprouting on his face at her snort.
The fireball hit the ground before the halfa and his cargo landed next to it. Its smoldering light was enough to illuminate the bottom of the cavity. The undead man set his friend down as his eyes scanned over the individuals who had made it safely to the bottom. He let out a sigh of relief when his gaze caught his Demoness' form, practically hidden in the shadows of Vaulk and Jones on the other side of the void. Her eyes met his between the woman who appeared to be thanking her as she sent him a silent plea for help with her wild gaze.
Danny made to move towards her when Cofa landed harshly between them. Slate cracked under the pressure of his toes and dust stirred as his heels hit the ground. Kim Shii sat safely in his arms as he took in the state of the human guards, Commander, and S-142. All unharmed, though thoroughly rattled. The Tamaranian set his partner down gently before he stalked towards Jackson, eyes ablaze in fury. S-142 moved to stand between them and Cofa made no attempts to get the clone out of the way. He stopped a few meters away from Jackson, his green energy at his hands and eyes lighting the space around them and setting the mood in fear as Phoebe's fires went out.
"Kimmi told me the planet is fully sentient." The red head's words made silence fill the already quiet cave. No one so much as took a breath as Cofa's words echoed around them while they contemplated the meaning.
"The planet," Cofa stressed as he threw an arm out to gesture around, as if the gesture was necessary to communicate how dangerous this was. "Is sentient. Capable of thought!" He exclaimed with wild eyes as he stretched out his palm and fingers for emphasis. "Why the fuck are we digging into the middle of a sentient planet?"
"Cofa-" Danny choked as he watched S-142 grow tense. Arms flexing as his posture shifted. Ready to fight. Ready to kill. The halfa may not have liked him but he didn't want to watch him get obliterated.
Jackson stepped forwards to place a placating hand onto the clone's bicep. The tension lessened but didn't vanish as the man in charge began to answer. "Because this planet died seven hundred years ago." The Commander told him as his eyes locked with the angry Tamaranians. "Bringing this much firepower was a precaution. It wasn't supposed to be necessary."
"This is insane!" Cofa cried, too busy freaking out with his hands flying up to clutch at his hair to see Commander Jackson's eyes narrow at him. "Why aren't we leaving? Do you understand how stupid it is to be here?" The Tamaranian continued to rant as Danny caught sight of one of the soldiers reaching for his Omnia Control Gauntlet. Were they going to-? "Why hasn't it crushed us to death ye-" His words were cut off from the quiet corner a certain spellcaster had taken up.
"It's weak." Raven stated, clear and firm as she stepped out from behind the two women. "This is all it has left to give. It may not be dead yet but it is dying." She told them as she watched Cofa's face collapse into relief before her gaze turned towards her partner. Sadness was sealed beneath her iris, her lips tight and contorted in disgust as she moved her eyes to the Commander. "And we are defiling it."
"No one asked for your opinion, Roth." Jackson barked as he watched Cofa like a hawk. "Now Cofa, I'm only going to tolerate that behavior of yours due to our current circumstances." He said slowly as the blood drained from the Tamaranian's face, implications realized. "But if I catch you weaving more discord at any other point during this mission you will be classified as Insurgent. Do you understand?"
"I-" Cofa uttered as he blinked in shock. "I-" He looked around the room to gauge the other faces of the squad before his gaze landed back on the man in charge. His head fell, red tresses falling to cover his eyes in shame as he whispered, "Yes, Sir."
Danny was about to attempt a joke to break the rising tension, when Sho landed next to Phoebe and rushed over to his partner in a panic. "My flame!" The Thanagarian cried as he pulled her into his arms. "I could not find you!" He exclaimed as he gently rubbed his tear stained cheek against hers. "I thought I had failed you. I thought I would land and find you gone."
"Oh, no." Phoebe whispered into the embrace as Danny turned to the side. An inane attempt to allow for some privacy in a cave too small with far too many people with enhanced hearing too close for comfort. "No, hun. I'm okay. Promise." She whispered the reassurance to the bird-man as he silently cried against her.
"We don't have time for this," Jackson muttered as he took a few steps towards the embraced couple before he was intercepted.
"Like Hell we don't." Rose Jones growled as the ground by her feet curled around her soles. "We just fell two hundred stories. I need a break. So does Vaulk. I don't care how short it is." The human growled each word more determined and sturdy than the last. The ring in her nose glinted in the low light and shined off of her dilated pupils in a way that made her all the more terrifying.
Jackson sighed as he regarded her, their primary path maker. He eyed the shakiness to her knees, the huffing of her breath, and the way the muscles in her arms were jumping before he came to a decision. "One break. Fifteen minutes. Do what you need to. We aren't getting another until we're on our way out."
"Fine." The woman huffed before she sharply turned from her superior and walked back to her blue skinned compatriot. The pair of women sat down and began to pull their rations and water from the pockets of their uniform pants.
The rest of the squad, save for the ever vigilant S-142, grouped up in separate areas of the small cavern. Raven left Vaulk and Rose to join Danny with Phoebe and Sho. Cofa remained with Kim Shii in their own private corner, his head buried in his hands, elbows braced against his knees.
"Here." Raven said softly before she was shoving a silver colored composite film covered package at him. "You didn't pack rations. Again." She told him as she sat down next to him on his narrow little rock. She pulled out her own high protein ration bar and gave it a nibble as he sighed and took the offering from her.
"Damn, you're good." He whispered in thanks as he unwrapped his own bar and took a small bite. The flavor was as nonexistent as ever. The texture was the same old too smooth and processed feel in his mouth. It made him want to vomit. The memories associated with the convenient meal, -blood on his hands, in his hair, in his ears, on his tongue- only made him want to hurl more. Danny forced the mouthful he had down before he gently placed the rest of the bar onto the rock seat. His will to eat, gone.
Raven raised an eyebrow at his actions but said nothing to him as she continued to nibble on her own. The demoness handed him her water as Sho finished composing himself. He sat across from them as the halfa took his first swig.
Even with his ice core, Danny was sweating bullets. He couldn't imagine how hot Sho was with all of the plumage decorating his back. The halfa wordlessly offered the Thanagarian their water but he held up a hand to refuse them before he drew his own bottle from the pouch on his thigh. The fiery woman sat beside the winged man and pulled out her own water, downing half of it within moments. Guess I was the only one unprepared, Danny thought to himself guiltily as he handed Raven back her beverage.
"I cannot thank you enough." Sho told the undead man after taking a few bites from his ration. "I was very disoriented when the ground gave out. It took me far too long to get the wind beneath my wings and even longer to actually fly." Sho admitted as his dead eyes stared into the flesh colored 'food' cradled in his palms. "I would not have caught her in time." He whispered as he looked at Phoebe with a mixture of awe and terror. "I owe you everything for saving her."
"No, man." Danny rejected as he leaned forward, bracing his elbow against the thigh above his knee as he held his head in his hand. "I'm glad I helped out but I don't deserve thanks."
"You do." Phoebe told him as she finished her bar.
"You do." Sho insisted as he eyed his partner before he looked at his ration.
"Don't want it, then." Danny spat as his fingers dug into the roots of his hair. Raven was ever watching with her patient, understanding, eyes. "Look, I-"
"Danny?" Phoebe whispered as her hands came up and cradled the skin above her waist. "I just wanna tell ya-"
"Phoebe. Please," The halfa cut off her words as his nails bit into the skin. He didn't want praise. Saving one life doesn't make up for the hundreds, hell maybe even thousands, he'd taken at this point. "Just-" he growled and shut his eyes as if that could shut off the self hatred growing in his belly. "Ugh! Can we move on? Talk about something else?"
"Okay." The fiery woman whispered as her hands moved to take the ration Sho was now shoving at her as she leaned away from the halfa.
"I wonder why we aren't boiling alive?" Danny mused aloud in a weary voice, the tension in the room lessening in an instant at the ask. "I thought we were getting pretty close. Shouldn't we be neck deep in lava right now?"
"It really ain't too hot for how far down we are." Phoebe added with her own weary smile playing at her lips as she began to nibble at her second bar.
"Are you kidding? I'm melting!" He exclaimed dramatically as he sat up and faked a swoon.
"The planet is dying Danny, cooling down is a part of the process." Raven replied with a reluctant twitch to her mouth as she repressed a smile. Score one for Danny Fenton jokester extraordinaire.
"You call this cool?" He asked his sorceress as she sipped at her water. "This is like, summer in Cuba levels of hot."
"What's a Cube-ah?" Phoebe asked before she took a large bite of her bar and chewed it vigorously.
"What?! What happened to Cuba?!" Danny asked too loudly, temporarily drawing many of the other eyes in the room. He grimaced at the attention and turned his back towards them as he hunched back into their group.
"It is an old country." Raven answered, her gaze far off and glazed in memories. "Before the Unification and creation of the Earthen Empire."
Phoebe opened her mouth as she leaned forward, the thirst for knowledge heavy on her tongue, when Sho leaned into Danny's space and cut off his partner's words. "My apologies, but we are running out of time." The Thanagarian began before he pointed at the abandoned meal, still half wrapped, at Danny's side. "Are you done with that, Nightingale?"
The halfa looked to the ration before his eyes returned to the bird man, black brows quirked with questions, as he answered. "Um, yeah?"
"May we have it?" Sho continued with a strangely intense gaze on his face.
"Oh," Danny uttered in surprise as his hand picked up the food. "Yeah, sure." He agreed with a shrug as he handed it over.
"Thank you," Sho whispered before he turned to Phoebe.
Before he could try to give it to her, the dark skinned woman huffed, tore it from his grip, ripped it in two. "No, Sho. You're eatin' half of it, okay?"
"I-" His protests were stopped before they began as Phoebe shoved the Thanagarian's portion into his opened mouth.
"I had mine and most of yours. You need food too." She told him, the fire powered woman's face smug as her partner chewed and swallowed his half.
"...Fine."
"Danny," Raven's quiet voice easily reached his ears, he turned to her, the interaction from the others forgotten in the face of the sorceress. "Kim told me you were injured earlier. Are you alright?"
"Oh," Danny replied, his hand finding the familiar spot at the base of his skull, fingers curling in his hair. "I mean, I died again but it wasn't really a big deal." He informed the demoness with a shrug as he turned his head away from her. "Couldn't be helped." Was that a lie? Danny wasn't sure. Maybe he could have avoided dying, maybe not. It had seemed like the best choice he'd had at the time. The halfa sighed in resignation at the fact that his partner was probably going to do a mental health check on him as soon as they were behind closed doors.
"What?" Phoebe exclaimed as she recoiled into Sho's side. "You died?" She asked as she looked between the immortals and their lack of response to the information. "I thought you were one of them durable types." The dark skinned woman explained as she looked down at her hands, a fourth of a ration bar left between her palms. "I didn't kill you did I?" She whispered the ask as though she were afraid to know but determined to face the consequences.
"No, I was dying to those plants one way or another." Danny was quick to reassure her as he threw her a mostly real smile. "I die all the time. It's okay." He continued, his words sprouting a crease between Phoebe's temples as her lips' edges curled downwards. "How'd Kim even know we needed help?" He asked as he turned towards the sorceress.
"Kim has a significant psychic link to Cofa. She sensed his distress and pushed to have our 'offensive' units sent out." Raven informed him before she finished off the last of their water with a soft sigh of disappointment.
"We got there in the knick a' time too. Cofa was 'bout to be overrun with 'em." Phoebe finished the short tale, her fingers playing with the last of her meal in a nervous manner. "I'm sorry you died, Danny."
"It's fine, Phoebe. Promise."
"Don't it hurt, dying?" She pressed, before she shoved the last of the ration into her mouth with a grimace.
"Well, yeah." Danny agreed reluctantly with a sigh. "But look, I got better. It's over. Doesn't hurt anymore." He told her, each additional word increasing the intensity of the fiery woman's frown instead of relieving it. God, he's so bad at this.
"I don't know what you want from me." The undead man admitted quietly, words that were intended for just himself but heard, nonetheless, by all.
With a harsh swallow, the last of the group's food vanished before Phoebe offered, "You could talk about it?"
"Now? Here? To you?" Danny asked incredulously after a harsh blink of surprise. His hand left his skull as he sat up at her suggestion, head tilting back towards the rocky roof as he tried to fight against his rising agitation. "Maybe some people can talk about their personal problems to someone they just met today, but I'm not one of them." The spite had made its way into his voice despite his best wishes. Great going, Danny. Two more potential friends lost 'cause you're a fucking idiot. Whatever.
"Right. No, that makes sense." She agreed to his surprise, his head jerked down to look at her completely unoffended face. "I just wish I could help ya somehow."
"There's not much to talk about anyway. Although..." Danny trailed off as he began to gather his thoughts. He realized he didn't mind the idea of talking about his most recent death. Or at least, he had no issues sharing his experience with this particular death.
"It wasn't normal." The halfa told them, the skin on his neck rising into gooseflesh as he thought back to the things he had seen in his state between life and death. "It felt-" real, like a memory, a dream, alive. "I had a vision."
Raven's head snapped away from the clone, her attention solely on him now. When he took too long to speak she barked a single harsh word. "Continue."
"It was like a memory of a memory." He explained poorly, Danny watched as Raven frowned at his words a slight indent in her cheek as she bit on it in thought. "Kinda like being possessed, except I was the one with access to memories that weren't mine." He tried again, only to increase the confused stares from the other pair. "But it wasn't happening in my head."
The sorceress sighed, her hands clenched into fists before she closed her eyes. "What did you see?"
"A monster. Crawling outta space." He began, the memories were fuzzy but that tentacle thing was clear as day in his mind's eye. "The Green Lanterns, they were arguing about something. It's hard to remember."
"The Lanterns?" She whispered, her eyes opening in surprise. "You're certain?"
"I recognized the symbol on their outfits. They were arguing with someone. All of them were dressed the same."
"Oh." She breathed her eyes widening in the realization.
"What?"
"If the planet has memories of the Lanterns that means-" her voice was lost against the harsh bark from their commander.
"Time's up." Jackson cried as he stood from his rock, leaning back as he braced his hands against his hips before his spine cracked in protest.
"I know what we're after." Raven whispered as they stood, her eyes locked once more on the clone.
"Yeah?" Danny responded just as quietly, knowing it was a pointless endeavor. S-142 could hear them, whether or not it cared to listen was something only he could know. "Is it bad?" He asked her as Commander Jackson began to order their squad around once again.
"Very."
They pressed on.
Deeper and deeper they dug, their sure footsteps occasionally interrupted from the quaking rock around them. The rumbling earth was steady like a heartbeat, one moment still and the next a chaotic shifting that made half of their unit struggle to maintain their footing. The comings and goings of the earthquakes were slowly growing in magnitude and frequency. Larger and more intense shakes between the smaller rumblings occurring closer and closer together as they walked deeper and closer to the core. Danny could only wonder how intense the climax would be. Could only wait to see when it would happen.
Nearly an hour had passed when their pathmaker stopped in her tracks. She sighed as she slouched, her hands coming up to rub away the sweat that had gathered on her face and had begun to drip into her eyes.
"What's the hold up?"
The half-limp Mohawk upon her head flipped against itself as Rose Jones turned to their Commander and let out an annoyed sigh. Her muscular back straightened and the pink energy in her hands, and surrounding the rocks in the tunnel before them, stilled but didn't fade. "We're about to hit lava."
"Ah," Commander Jackson replied as a pale, calloused, hand came up to pinch at the bridge of his nose. A controlled weary sigh escaped his lips after his eyes had closed. The brief moment hadn't lessened the tension in the man's shoulders or the hardness in his gaze. "Vaulk, cool the lava as we come in contact with it. Jones, use the new rocks to continue our tunnel's integrity."
"Wait!" His partner's rough voice cried out. Raven pushed past the others to stand face to face with their leader. "You'll kill it."
"A positive side effect." Jackson snarked as he turned away from the sorceress.
Undeterred, the Demoness pressed on as she followed after the Commander. "Perhaps with the right resources, we could reverse-"
"We aren't here to save the fuckin' planet, Roth!" He snapped as he turned to face her, his movements rough and irritated. "We are here, to retrieve the artifact at-"
"The Lantern Ring." Raven said evenly, thoroughly cutting off the Commander's words, the slightest of recoils, a reaction he hasn't been able to fully stop at his surprise of being caught. "We're here to take the Lantern Ring from Mogo, the last of the Green Lanterns." She stated, soft gasps echoed through their small cave at the reveal as the sorceress' eyes never left Jackson's. "Why not say the truth?"
An irritated sigh as the man momentarily closed his eyes. On the inhale, they opened into a harsh glare as his lips grew taught around his words. "Nothing gets past you. Does it, Roth?"
"Please, Commander." Her voice cracked on the vowels as she continued to step after him. He turned his back to her and missed how the sorceress' desperation was written in the wild pleading in her eyes. "Mogo is a hero. The Earthen Empire doesn't need this artifact. Especially at the cost of the life of something that once saved us." Raven's eyes closed as she looked away from the Commander, darkness sparked around her as she took a long slow breath. When they opened, her face had lost much of its anguish, but the iris remained wild and distressed. "Does that mean nothing to you?"
Danny had never seen her beg before, let alone seen her look so desperate. A pain in his heart emerged as he watched. A restless helplessness had his hands become fists as she stood alone before the Commander. Surrounded only by pitiful stares and curious bystanders. Danny could only hope he didn't look like the others as he watched. As he got ready to catch her when she failed.
"You can keep your opinions on what the Earthen Empire does and doesn't need to yourself, Roth." Jackson growled, ignoring her last question, as he finally turned to look at her. His face was impassive, expression hard as stone as he met the gazes of everyone else before he returned to the demoness. "I'm under orders."
The words could sound like an apology, but they clearly weren't with the unapologetically cruel tone that was used. He didn't care, couldn't care, and wouldn't care. And nothing Raven could say to him would change Jackson's mind.
Her eyes flashed red and stayed in the illuminated shade while the sorceress' voice dropped an octave. "The Empire can't have the ring!" She hissed as her right foot slid back and shifted her body into a fighting stance.
The Commander, in a slow and precise movement, tilted his head to the side and narrowed his eyes at her. A hand that had been held against his back came out to rest against the front of his thigh, fingers together, palm tense and ready to signal. "Do I need to put you down, Roth?" He asked slowly his eyes never leaving hers as the guards around them readied their gauntlets and hovered their fingers over the same button on their touchscreens. "Are you going to be a problem?" Another question as he watched, ever patient, ever waiting. An animal handler ready to catch a striking snake in its most critical and vulnerable moment. "Because my mission is more important than your life."
"I..." Raven bit back the words as she took a quick deep breath. She blinked rapidly, each flutter of her eyes lessening the red energy that had flooded and pooled there. When her eyes returned to normal, she glanced around the room until her eyes met the halfa's.
The moment in which they looked at each other felt much longer than it actually was. Her gaze held regret and so, so much bitterness that Danny could almost taste it on his tongue. He looked back with concern. Concern for her and her well-being, his intense desire to keep her safe and alive at the forefront of everything. He waited for the signal.
For her to tell him to go for it.
For them to try to free themselves.
For her to tell him to die for her if she chose to ask.
Raven closed her eyes and turned her gaze back towards Jackson as she dropped her stance. "I am well aware of this fact." The sorceress whispered as she looked at the Commander head on. "I will not interfere."
"Good." Jackson barked, Danny had half expected the man to be cocky and cruel towards the sorceress after such a battle of wills. The man only projected relief as he signaled the others to stand down. His words remained stern as he turned to address the rest of the group. "If I catch any of you," he hissed as his eyes flickered from person to person the subtle hint of fear weaving between his vowels as he fought to keep his composure, "trying something funny. You're getting shut down. No ifs, ands, or buts. No talking about it and no reasoning around it." The Commander warned as he pulled and straightened his slightly disheveled uniform. "I don't care if that ring is guarded by God himself. We're getting that ring and we're getting out. Understood?"
After a chorus of half hearted "yes sir"s and "yeah"s, Rose stepped back up to the wall blocking their path. She sighed and her shoulders slumped as she stared into the groves between the boulders. Vaulk stepped up beside her to place a cool hand on her bustling bicep. No words were spoken between the pair in the small moment they took for themselves to look at one another. Steel gathered in their gazes before Vaulk stepped in front of the human female to stand within Rose's space. Her form was dwarfed by the large woman, even when she held out her hands before her, ready to ice everything in their path.
Rose pressed a gentle kiss onto the bare blue skin of Vaulk's head before she raised her own hands and, with a twist of her wrist and a curling of fingers, ripped away their last rock layer.
Steam exploded into the tunnel, the hiss of it was almost as loud as the cracking sound of newly formed, and shifting, rock. The temperature fluctuated from the immense heat, that had flooded the room in that brief moment, to a biting chill that made Danny feel back in his hut within the Far Frozen.
As Danny pushed back the suddenly sprouting memories, Raven whispered into the cave. Shadows sprung forth to grab at the steam and redirect it towards the walls. Sighs of relief echoed throughout the cavern before Rose and Vaulk continued forward.
The Commander ordered Raven to move towards the front, and Danny in the back with Sho. S-142, Cofa and the rest of the Empire loyalists firmly between the pair as they continued to carve deeper into the planet. Guess Jackson had seen the depth to their shared gaze after all.
The Thanagarian and undead walked side by side in the back of the line. An uncomfortable comradery that had formed in a small amount of time. A tentative friendship Danny wasn't sure could last past their current mission. Not with the strange history the two of them shared.
Not when it began in blood and war.
So, to say Danny was surprised when Sho once again began to thank him, without his humanoid partner around to encourage him, was an understatement. He'd nearly fell over when he'd comprehended what the Thanagarian warrior had said to him and accidentally asked him to repeat himself.
"I said," Sho responded with an amused smile as Danny recovered from his near tripping. "Thank you. For saving Phoebe."
"Dude, I said don't mention it." Arms came up to cross against his scarred and exposed chest, making him look grumpy and much, much, younger than he actually was.
"Yes, but you did not allow us to explain."
"What?" Danny scoffed in confusion as he pulled a hand up to grasp at the roots of his hair near the back of his skull. His other hand flew free to gesture wildly to emphasize his confusion as they walked. "What even needs explaining?"
"Her condition is... Precarious. We have-" Sho stopped, his eyes darting to S-142 before returning to stare at the back of his partner's head. "She has not decided what to do yet. Though, I know her. I know what she will decide. She has not come to peace with it."
"Yeah, that makes a lot of sense." Danny retorted as he laid on the sarcasm. He rolled his eyes at the alien who huffed, amused, in response.
"Yes, I apologize. I-" Sho sighed before a hand came up to pinch at the feathers gathering around his neck. "I wanted to emphasize that you saved my family." The Thanagarian stressed the last word, drawing it out slightly slower than the words previous. "And I owe you everything for that."
"Um..." The halfa blinked in confusion as he threw odd glances at the alien beside him between his steps. "If I say you're welcome will you let it go?" He asked only half joking as he kicked a small rock into the Tamaranian's path. Cofa stumbled and threw a glare back at the halfa who looked everywhere but at the alien loyalist in front of him with a slight whistle on his lips.
Sho, who had watched the entire interaction with wide, concerned, eyes, turned to look at the halfa with a look of mounting horror. "I cannot believe I was defeated by someone so unobservant."
"What?" Danny asked with a laugh as he turned his attention back to the bird man. "I'm totally observant! I realized we were getting ambushed right before it happened!"
"That..." The Thanagarian began his retort as he shook his head lightly with a smile playing on his lips. "Is not what I am referring to."
"Then what, dude?" The ex-hero grumbled as he began to stimulate on the loose straps of fabric holding his pockets shut. His pockets he had forgotten to stash with items in his rush to get ready.
"The fact that you have to ask," Sho continued as she cracking sounds around them shifted. Their sound increased in volume and intensity as the ground began to tremble in yet another earthquake. Ancients, I hope the walls hold. Danny thought to himself as he eyed the integrity of his part of the cavern. "Is more than enough proof that you are a clueless individual."
"Clueless, huh?" Danny echoed, his memories overtaking the forefront of his mind as he thought back on his youth, on his friends, on his family as the quaking slowed to a stop. He'd been clueless then too. "That's what they tell me."
It had to be a social thing. Something interpersonal. He was garbage at picking up social ques as a teenager, and had only grown worse in his isolation. Had only refined those 'skills' to understand Raven. Who else did he need to understand? No one stayed around long enough to matter these days. No one except her.
Before he could think on it more, the walls in the front shattered. Without even a chance to act, an obsidian doorway was formed through ice and black magic. The women in front ducked out of sight as the halfa bounced on the balls of his feet to reach them. Individual by individual moved through the doorway, each letting out a little gasp of awe, until finally, finally, Danny was through and letting out a little gasp of wonder of his own.
It's a strange thing to be inside the core of a planet. An even stranger one to be inside the core of a dying, sentient, one. They had to be in the core, the hot air and walls of obsidian were one thing, but the pedestal holding a tiny, glowing green object was another. The Lantern Ring in all of its glory, just sitting there nestled in a rocky throne, surrounded by a moat of lava inside the core of a planet. How fucking awesome was that?
Danny looked around the large 'room' with excitement, taking in the walls as he thought over the logistics. The air was stale! Stale! Has it ever been inside lungs? How old was the air in here? And the rocks, were they newly formed from Vaulk or had they always been here? And we're those diamonds-?!
His gaze landed on Raven, every muscle was tense as her eyes remained locked on the ring in the center of the room. She sensed his gaze and turned only her eyes towards his, the rampant fear in her eyes erased every positive emotion he had been riding on. Every happy curiosity and gleeful pondering was replaced with dread of his own. That's right. They were here to take the ring.
And she didn't know what to do. Or perhaps she did but she couldn't, or wouldn't ask it. He could see it in her eyes, the conflict, the desire, no. The need to do something but her pride (always her pride) getting in the way. An ask within her heart she couldn't voice. A plea only someone who had been with her so long could see. Only him. Something he'd seen so rarely but never forgotten the sight of.
Help.
Stale air met his tongue as he pulled in a deep breath and made a decision. Danny moved his attention towards Commander Jackson and kept his body loose, stance friendly, as he prepared to strike.
"S-1-" their leader's words were cut off as the ground rocked him about, leaving him without the breath to finish the command. Lava began to shift as the rocks began to crumble around them.
The Mother of All Earthquakes was upon them, and they were at its center.
Mogo was giving it their everything, their final push, their final attack. The green ring jumped about in its throne, the lava pool growing below it, ready to receive and destroy in this final gambit. To protect everything they had sworn to protect. Even at the cost of itself.
He hadn't realized he'd been holding in that deciding breath until he'd let it go. Screaming erupted behind him, but he didn't turn. Didn't let his focus waver. This was too important. His eyes remained locked, his focus only on the clone and the jumping ring before them.
Despite the unfinished order, S-142 had enough of a brain to interpret the intended command. Danny saw how he tightened his glutes and took a step forward, about to spring forward and snatch the artifact before it succumbed to its fate.
S-142 moved.
So did Danny.
They collided midair, halfway to the ring and half a meter above the bubbling lava pool. The clone grunted in surprise as Danny's eyes alit in green, his hands grabbing onto the thick neck of clone Clark and *heaving with every bit of strength he had to knock the Kryptonian off course.
Together they slammed into the obsidian wall to the right of the ring, further destabilizing it as the quaking continued. S-142 growled as a ring around his iris began to burn. The halfa ducked to let the Lazer beam over his head, before he was sucker punched by a super punch that left him breathless and his organs in the wrong spots. The undead coughed, the taste of copper flooding his mouth, as he shifted his hold to throw the Kryptonian away from him and, more importantly, away from the ring.
The clone used its flight to stop its momentum before it dove for the ring again. The Lantern Ring fell onto the edge of its throne and began to waver above the lava, dancing with death itself and giving it a metaphorical middle finger when it refused to immediately fall. Danny intercepted the Kryptonian again, taking the full force of his flight straight into his left shoulder that cracked under the immense pressure. The halfa let out a pained groan as he forced the muscles into use and shifted his body to kick clone Kent far enough away to return karma for that earlier sucker punch with one of his own.
S-142 gasped as he bent in half, arms immediately coming up to brace against the pain. It looked back up at Danny's floating form before him with shock that the undead man was able to hurt him at all. It's gaze turned to rage, unwavering, unmoving, from the half ghost before it when everything shifted and no one noticed.
The ring toppled and fell. No one noticed the death of Mogo as the chaos continued around them. The screaming hadn't stopped at their point of origin, but Danny was too preoccupied to look. The quaking earth only began to cease once the green had been thoroughly smothered by the hot red-orange of melted metals and elements.
Mogo died of their own hand. Alone as they had been for nearly seven centuries. Their power gone with them.
The lava beneath them cooled into obsidian as the quaking stopped, The planet finally, finally, dying after so many years in limbo. The screaming at the mouth of the core ceased but the fight between the clone of steel and the undead human man? That was still going.
Faster than the eye could follow, S-142 flew forward, arm reared back to strike, muscles bulging with the intent to strike at full force. Danny dodged to the left, his flight pulling the half ghost back over the hardened obsidian and out of immediate grabbing range of the enraged Kryptonian. The strike missed and crumbled the newly forming rock into dust and rubble before the clone turned to look at Danny and his distanced position. His eyes lit up and lasers sprouted from his eyes and beamed at the human man too quickly for him to attempt to dodge.
He threw up his hands and pooled his ectoplasm into his palms, focusing on forming the strongest smallest shield he could manage. The halfa's barrier held off the attack as S-142 slowly flew closer, eye beams growing more and more intense with each additional meter closer the clone came. Danny huffed and pooled more ectoplasm into the barrier when he lost feeling in his hands and feet.
A pinch and the lasers were slicing through his chest and neck. A gurgle as blood filled his lungs and he keeled over, he collapsed onto the rocky floor and his vision went dark. S-142's slow approach to his dying form was the last conscious thought he had, and then he was gone.
A flash of light and he jerked awake. Dying was always disorienting, but coming back to life already vertical was even more so. He rolled his head up as pressure grew in his chest. A cough forced itself out of his chest and out of his mouth, pulling most of the blood in his respiratory system out with it. The undead man opened his eyes to the bleary forms of multiple people standing before him. A few blinks cleared the image to Commander Jackson and his entourage a few feet behind him.
"Well, God Damn." Commander Jackson whispered as Danny got his feet underneath him. He shifted and realized his hands were being held down. Snuffing out the panic, the halfa tilted his head back between his coughs to find the angry face of S-142 holding him up and keeping him secured. That sucks, Danny thought to himself as he tried, and failed, to shift an inch. But at least I can phase out if I need to.
"You know, I was told you don't stay dead." Jackson said, drawing back Danny's gaze to the calculating eyes of their Commander. "It's one thing to read it in the person's report. It's another to see it in person."
The soft sound of sobbing met his ears and drew his attention from the icy glare before him.
"Sho," Phoebe whispered as she pulled at his collapsed form. A large, sharpened, boulder coated in blood and plumage near his body as the olive skinned woman quietly cried next to him, her fingers digging into the ruined uniform he was dressed in. Rose sat by her side, silent in her moments of grief.
"I know why you did it." She whispered as she bent forward to bury her head into the only clean spot on his chest. "I know," Phoebe repeated as she shuddered and rubbed her tears into his armour. "But you don't have your Nth metal anymore. You can't-" she choked as her hands wrapped around her waist and fire sparked at her fingertips. "You can't come back." She whispered as Rose placed a hand lightly on her back.
"You can't come back."
"You can't come back."
"You can't come back."
Phoebe kept repeating those words. Over and over. The same four words, each quieter than the last. Until she was practically breathing them. But he could still hear her. He could still hear her grief. Is that why they had been screaming?
He took a second look around the room. New piles of rocks were littered throughout the room. Vaulk huffing as ice poured into a still bleeding crack in a bloated wall of rock, a slow stream of lava cooling by the second. Two of the lackeys were dead, Kim was holding her arm oddly and Cofa was watching her with a deadly serious expression.
Jackson caught Danny's wandering gaze before the leader gave him a grimace. The Commander turned his head to the closest subordinate and gave a slow nod without letting his eyes stray from the Fenton.
No other words were spoken, the lackey turned his attention to his gauntlet and pressed his fingers into the touchscreen's interface. Danny slumped into the clone's hold, his head lost its ability to hold itself up and fell into the crook near S-142's armpit. His eyes landed onto the collapsed form of his partner.
They'd used the Cerebral Shutdown on them both.
Danny felt his heart jump into his throat at the sight, his eyes unable to scan the room for escape exits, his limbs unable to run to her. Was she okay? She looked banged up but alive, alive, alive. She was still breathing, but for how long? What happened? Why was she shut down?!
"You know, all of this loss? This bloodshed? This wouldn't have happened if you had just followed orders." Commander Jackson said each word slowly, as if talking to a petulant child. "I told everyone here we were getting that ring. And you went directly against my orders, Nightingale."
Everything and everyone was silent, save for the dying bubbling of lava and the slight drip of the molten substance as it fought its way into the cavern only to cool and obstruct its path further. Even Phoebe's sobs had died down as she listened to the Commander's words.
No one moved.
The sudden steps echoing through the cave would have been enough to make Danny jump in a normal situation. His body remained locked in place as the footsteps approached, stuck watching the still form of his partner. Helpless.
A hand grabbed him by the chin and turned his head and gaze away from Raven. His eyes met the disappointed and harsh glare Jackson couldn't retain as he forced Danny to look at him.
"Every death today was your fault." He hissed as his pale fingers tightened on Danny's cool skin. "A direct result of your insubordination," the Commander spat as he tilted Danny's head about to maintain eye contact when he swayed with rage. "If you were anyone else I would have flipped your kill switch and been done with you."
Jackson tilted the ex-hero's head down to look at his Omnia gauntlet before forcing the halfa's head back up for eye contact. "But you and I both know you're one of our few units that just won't die."
The ground rumbled, small rocks bouncing from the shaking but S-142 held him still. "So, how do you punish someone who can't pay the price?" Jackson whispered as he searched between Danny's unmoving gaze. He let go and the halfa's head slumped to the side, helpless as he watched the Commander shift his attention to the Demoness.
No, he wanted to scream. Danny shoved at every wall he could visualize in his mind as Jackson approached her collapsed form. I did this. This was my fault. Punish me. Punish me!
The Commander knelt next to her and turned his head to make eye contact with the halfa. They should have tried to leave. They should have torn the planet apart in their quest for freedom. Ancients, they had their chance and they fucking wasted it. For what? To do some good for the universe? At what cost? The cost of their souls? Her life? His sanity?
Jackson opened his mouth to speak when he was interrupted.
"We need to leave. Now!"
Their leader stood and turned to throw a harsh glare at her. "Jones, I am in the middle-"
"I know, Sir." Rose interrupted once more, the sense of urgency in her tone only growing more and more frantic with every word. "We don't have time. I can feel the earth collapsing beneath us as you speak. We have to go. Now." The bulky woman insisted as the rock wall to their left began to crumble and leak lava.
"Shit." Jackson swore as he eyed the two shut down units before he turned his attention to the remaining people of the group. "We're leaving. Leave the bodies. Jones, how long will it take you to get us to the surface?"
"There's already a half formed path and the rocks get less dense as we grow closer to the surface so they're easier to move but..." Chaos erupted within the small cavern, soldiers grabbing their fallen comrade's Omnia gauntlets, Cofa picking up his partner in a bridal carry, Vaulk gently prodding an unmoving Phoebe.
"Out with it, Jones."
"I would need Rachel's help. I'm not fast enough by myself." Rose informed him, her words sparking rage in his eyes at the suggestion of letting the demoness go.
"Jones-" Jackson barked, his shoulders tense, ready to put her in her place.
"I know, sir!" Rose's reply was quick, her voice pleading, honest, and tired. So, so, tired. "But I really could use her help."
The Commander eyed the strong woman. A gaze that analyzed her every intent, a search for any hint of deception, any sign to distrust her, and finding none. He grit his teeth and balled his hands into fists as he turned to the closest subordinate. "... Remove Roth's shutdown." Their leader allowed, Rose Jones visibly sighed at the words. Her entire body lost its tension at his allowance, as if the knowledge that it wouldn't be entirely up to her to deliver the squad to safety was a weight off of her shoulders.
Jackson quickly continued his instructions. This time with his words laced with steel and fire. "Under no circumstances are we removing Nightingale's. We're getting back to the Mothership and letting the Council decide what to do with him. Understood?" After a chorus of agreements rang out into the room, the Commander gave a single harsh nod. "Good. Move out!"
Danny heard Raven's low, whispered, voice as she shuffled to her feet. "Thank you, Rose."
"Consider it a life debt repaid. Besides, I really do need the help." Rose replied in a weary laugh. More shuffling could be heard from the other side of the cavern. The harsh booted footsteps from Jackson as he approached an unsteadily breathing figure.
"Fox-" He began, his tone both stern and sad, a tone that reminded Danny of his parents. The sound they'd use when they were disappointed with him.
"Let me say goodbye." She demanded in a voice that nearly broke on every word. Danny could hear the crackling of fire but hadn't heard the woman move.
"Fox," he tried again, this time his words were gentler, less stern. "We don't have ti-"
"Just let me say goodbye!" Phoebe snapped, the halfa could hear her uniform crease in a movement he could not see. A quick sobbed breath and the uniform creased again. "I'll be quick." She whispered, all of the fire gone from her tone. Her voice broke on the last word, too burdened with desperation to be spoken clearly. "Please."
A deep sigh and a shuffling of feet preluded the Commander's response. "... Be quick."
The pause was brief as she gathered herself, a soft shakey inhale, and the rustling of tightening battle leather. "Sho," Phoebe began, the word whispered, a quiet sound that could allude to a sense of privacy, should one ignore the shuffling from the others still preparing themselves for a rapid departure. "Thank you for savin' us." Their leader hummed at those words, his boots shuffled as Phoebe let out a sad half-laugh. "I-" she choked, the word was wet with tears. A huff echoed against the rock before she tried again. "I'll keep it. Safe." The last word added on as if she were in a hurry. She sniffled and coughed out a sob before she continued. "But you already knew that. Didn'tcha?" Another sad, barely formed, laugh devoid of any actual humor.
S-142 shifted the halfa's limp body in his hold, accidentally turning his head enough to see the firey woman and her last moments with her lover.
"I loved you." The olive skinned woman whispered against Sho's cooling skin. A gentle kiss pressed against his forehead before she stood and wiped away the tears. "Rest easy."
S-142 threw the halfa over his back without effort and Danny's face slammed into the meat beneath the clone's shoulder blades. He didn't even have the ability to grunt in response to the rough treatment. The halfa's body was on autopilot and he wasn't going to be regaining his mobility anytime soon. Fuck. Fuck this. He thought to himself heatedly as clone Clark began to carry him towards their leader. We should have taken the opportunity. Raven is wrong. We need to prioritize getting out.
"Okay." Phoebe spoke, her voice cutting through Danny's spiraling inner monologue and bringing him back into reality. He glared into S-142's back as her raspy voice reached his ears loud and clear, a distinct lack of hiccups and cracking ."Thanks."
The Commander ignored her appreciation, his voice growing easier to hear with every additional step S-142 took towards him. "Why haven't you informed Development about your pregnancy?"
"We-" Phoebe sounded bewildered by the question, her tone dazed as she trailed off. A brief pause as Rose yelled for the others to gather near her before the olive skinned human continued to answer. "I... Just found out today. Didn't feel like I had much chance to say somethin' or refuse to go." She told him as Danny began to jostle with S-142's footsteps. Their speed walking accompanied the clone's as the three made their way to regroup with the others.
Pregnancy. That had to be what Sho had been hinting at. The thing he had been trying to tell him. That Danny hadn't just saved her life, he'd saved their kid's life too. That... Danny wasn't sure what to feel about that. In that moment, with that knowledge, it was almost enough. Almost enough to make him feel worth something. Like his existence could be justified somehow.
But then he remembered that Sho was dead and Commander Jackson had expressed it was his fault. Was it actually? Was the man blaming the halfa to keep him in line? Or was he just telling the truth? Would Sho be alive if Danny hadn't interfered?
"The rules explicitly state that you inform them immediately." Commander Jackson reminded her, his voice back to stern with a lacing of disappointment. Danny could practically see the scowl on their leader's face. He'd seen it so much on this adventure he had a feeling that particular look would linger in his dreams for years to come.
"I know, I know. I'm sorry."
"I'll be escorting you to their department immediately on landing." He continued as the ground jumped and S-142 tightened his hold on Danny's body.
"Yeah, I figured."
It was a frustration unlike any Danny had ever felt in his long life. For the duration of their escape from within the depths, all he could see was black battle leather. The cues of sound suggested Kim had been badly injured during whatever had happened within the core and that the density of the planet was crumbling into stardust right behind them.
A mad rush was made to the surface and he was trapped on the back of a Superman clone like a distressed damsel. Unable to help anyone, especially himself. It was maddening. Frustrating. He wanted to scream and he couldn't even do that. Being trapped in the shutdown like this for this long? This was punishment enough. How he longed to run his fingers through his hair. Tap his toes. Scratch at his neck. Maddening! He was going insane-
And then the roaring of a ship could be heard in the distance. Steadily growing louder and louder until it was practically on top of him. The sound of it overtook everything as he was jostled about. Finally, finally, he was removed from the clone's back and strapped into his seat still as incapable of movement as he had been for far too long now. His eyes feasted themselves on the ability to see more than just S-142's back as he took in the sights.
Kim was cradling her arm, a deep purple bruising covering nearly the entirety of its flesh. The angle he had on it implied a breakage but he couldn't tell if bone had broken through the skin or not. Cofa seemed fine if not rattled. The Tamaranian said nothing as Jackson spoke to Das over the intercom. He could kind of see Phoebe from the way his head was tilted. Her expressionless stare that pierced into the empty seat beside her, the tremble to her lower lip as she bit at it. She looked awful but she was holding herself together. Danny couldn't see Raven but he could sense her. Her familiar energy was on his blind side and a few seats further away from where she had sat last time.
The trip back to the Mothership was even more impossibly quiet than the flight they'd been on earlier. A morose mood settled upon the occupants of the hold in a thick blanket. No one spoke as each individual snuggled into the vibe and embraced its woe for the entirety of the ride. Danny's head jolted about on the landing, his eyes meeting Jackson's as the bay doors clicked open.
The leader looked well and truly exhausted. Bags had made homes under his eyes and had invited their friends to stay. He let out a long sigh before he released his harness' buckles and stood to bend his spine. A relieved huff of breath escaped his lips at the cracks that sung from his bones before he turned to S-142 and gave him his final instructions for the night.
"Get them," the Commander pointed to Danny and Raven, eyes never straying from their forms. As if he were afraid Danny would suddenly develop the ability to move despite the Cerebral Shutdown. "To their room. They're on lockdown."
The clone nodded, it moved towards the halfa and unclipped him from his harness before, once more, throwing him over his back like a sack of potatoes. Dammit, not this shit again. A huff and Raven's body was suddenly pressing right up against his. She'd been stacked on top of him. A sack upon a sack. She'd said not a word or complaint about the treatment meaning she must have been shut down again at some point. Rae wouldn't be silent about being treated like this. It was one of her quirks. You don't touch Raven without permission. Not unless you want to lose a hand.
Danny could practically see the stares from the passerbys as S-142 made his way to their room. Could feel their burning gazes as they whispered to one another their curiosities as they were toted about from hallway to hallway. It was almost embarrassing, but Danny really couldn't care. They had made it through alive and without the ring. A best case scenario, all things considered. Being publicly shamed like this was a small price to pay when Rae could have been hurt or much, much worse.
The clone unceremoniously dumped them a few meters into their room. No care was taken to prevent injury or odd landings. The clone just pulled them from his shoulder and dropped them without a care in the world. S-142 left and closed the door behind it. The lights had not been turned on and all Danny could sense was her skin against his and the sound of their breathing.
The moment stretched into what felt like eternity. He lost count of his breaths too many times and felt as though he were going insane. He needed something to distract himself. Something to focus on. Anything was better than being alone with his thoughts!
He tried to meditate but he couldn't get very far. His inability to move was stressing him out too much. Danny couldn't focus when there was nothing to focus on save for their breaths and his too slow heart beat. Fucking. Just. When it actually matters he can't do anything right. Way to go, Fenton. Learn how to meditate only to forget every lesson the moment things get dicey. What an absolute asshole!
After too much time had passed the light in their room turned on and his fingertips began to prickle with sensation. He jerked up and, in his haste, collided with Raven rather roughly. She hissed in pain and pressed at the forming bruise on her forehead as Danny began to profusely apologize.
"Shit, Rae." He whispered as he scrambled to help her up off of the ground. "I'm so sorry! Let me see. Are you okay?" His words were rapid fire as he finally was able to look her over, his eyes landed on hers and the look in them was a little wild.
"Space." She told him as she pushed his hands away from her. The demoness stood and took two steps backwards to widen their distance. "Breathe."
"Uh, right." He realized as he looked at her she was overstimulated. The tension in her shoulders, the weariness of her gaze. She'd had enough involuntary touching for today. "Sorry."
The sorceress said nothing to him as she sat on the edge of her bed. Her hands folded on top of each other as she took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh, her spine fell into a slouch as the air left her.
Danny stood in the middle of their room and began to rub his fingers together. Where she had been overstimulated he was desperately under his needed threshold. He walked around their room, hand held out to gently press his fingertips against the different surfaces. Indulging in the sensation. Eyes piercing into every crack and cranny. Taking in every color shift and pattern.
It took them nearly an hour to settle themselves. His restless energy clashed against her need for calm and control but eventually, the chaos settled and so did they. After pacing around the room for what had probably been the hundredth time, Raven opened her eyes and locked them onto the undead man's form.
"Thank you."
He stumbled at the sudden words, he'd grown used to the quiet and her soft words were louder and more sudden than a gunshot in the small space.
"I- uh... What?" His head shook as he reeled back with the ask. "What for?" A hand flew up to scratch at the back of his neck as he tried to smother the sudden nervousness her words had sprouted.
She stared at him for a long moment, the edges of her lips curled into the slightest of smiles, only perceivable by those experienced enough to see it. Only for him. "... You know what for." She whispered as she dropped the eye contact and moved her unseeing gaze into her skyward facing palms.
"...Oh." Danny uttered the response instinctively. It escaped with his breath before he had a chance to catch it. The look was back in her eyes. The pride that made itself known in her weakest of moments. It burned in her gaze and flavored her energy when it rose its ugly head and forced her to stand tall and alone. Raven was thanking him for his interference with the ring.
He took the few steps necessary to cross the room and knelt before her. Her eyes remained stubbornly on her palms until he covered them with his own. She looked up at the contact, gazes interlocking easily. Communicating with a glance and the slightest of head tilts.
You don't need to thank me.
I do.
Okay. But only 'cause it's you.
The moment ended when he removed his hands from hers and stood. Danny turned his back to her as he voiced the fears that had been lingering within his mind throughout the entirety of his imprisonment.
"Was it my fault?"
A soft sigh met his ears, the rustling of fabric and a tugging at his back. He turned enough to see her pulling at the zipper of his uniform and turned away just as quickly. "I'm... Not sure."
"Yeah?" Her hand gently lifted his hair at the base of his neck as she began to drag the zipper down. "How'd you figure that?"
"It was very bad timing and horrible luck." Raven assured him as she finished with the zip and began to help him pull his arms through the constricting uniform. "Perhaps, Sho could have been saved." He nearly tripped as he tried to get his boots off, her firm grip on his bicep kept him upright enough to regain his balance. "He died shoving Phoebe out of the way. He took the boulder meant for her."
He could have saved Sho. What good was saving his family if he couldn't save the man himself?
Danny could feel the self hatred rise and burn in his cheeks as he stepped out of the uniform the rest of the way. The outfit fell to the floor in a heap around his ankles as he turned to look at the demoness with wide, ashamed eyes.
"Again, I am not sure." She repeated as she turned her back to him and shifted her waist-long hair over her shoulder, exposing her own uniform's zipper to him. "It was a high octane situation. Too much, too quickly."
"What even happened?" He whispered as he slowly reached forward and took the zip between his fingers. There was no need for this. Her magic was more than capable of undressing herself. But the offering, an allowance of his assistance, a physical permission to let him touch her? To let him indulge himself in his need for physical connection? This was her hidden kindness, her caring through actions instead of words.
And he was immensely grateful for it.
"The earthquake," Raven told him as he freed her back, exposing it to the chilled air of their room, "it caused a partial cave in." Gooseflesh erupted on her skin and, once completely unzipped, he helped her pull her arms in and out of the outfit. "It took everything Rose, Vaulk, and I had to keep the core from collapsing entirely."
"Oh," he whispered as he stared at the bumps on her skin, his gaze unseeing as his eyes grew distant. His mind was attempting to run from the growing horror building in his belly. The Commander hadn't been lying had he? He and S-142 had hit the walls of the core multiple times. They had compromised the integrity of an already compromised system.
He'd killed Sho. It was his fault.
Raven sensed his despair and turned to face him unabashed. Her body was completely exposed save for the thin cloth resting at her hips and neither of them cared. She placed a gentle hand on his chin, fingers curling over his jaw as she forced him to look at her. "I don't know if the damage your fight caused those particular boulders to fall. I can't tell you they would have lived if you had held back and I can't tell you if they were doomed to die." She told him as she pulled him down, down, down until her forehead was pressing against his.
"But you did the right thing."
A sob escaped his lips before he could stop it. "Yeah, I-" he choked on his words, his heart too full of *everything to make enough sense of it to form words. "Thanks, Rae."
His head fell to her bare shoulder as her arms came up to curl around his back. She held him as he wrestled with his rampant self hatred. As he battled with the what ifs and the should have been betters. His body shook as he regretted the fact he couldn't and wouldn't change his actions if given the chance too. A fucking monster. That's what he'd become.
Because she was right. The Earthen Empire couldn't have a Lantern Ring. The potential of such an item in the hands of a system so ridiculously cruel... It was a nightmare situation. One that had to be shut down. And Danny did.
And he'd do it again.
Eventually, he came to terms with it. Came to peace with himself and his actions. Eventually his tears dried up and his muscles lost their tension. Eventually, they sat on the floor, backs resting against the frame of her bed, as they stared into the grey paint on the wall across from them.
"You know what I don't get?" His voice was rough from the emotional turmoil, so Danny cleared his throat after the last word had been spoken.
"Hm?"
"Why Phoebe didn't report the baby or whatever. Like, why did she agree to go? Wasn't it risky?" He voiced the curiosity allowed. The fatherless baby. The one he had failed before it had even been born.
"Danny..." Raven's head moved towards him a sigh escaping her lips as she took in his genuine confusion. "I suppose you aren't aware."
"No, I'm not." He rolled with a nervous laugh and a weary grin. "That's why I asked."
"The partnership program. Why do you think they pair up enhanced individuals the way they do?" She asked him, her gaze intense and unwavering as she waited for his response.
"Um," he floundered, surprised at the direction the conversation had taken before his brain caught up and he forced himself to answer. "To force a connection and create a hostage situation? 'Don't step out of line. It's not just your life we'll take' kinda thing?
"That's half of it." She agreed with a single nod, her tone laced with approval as she turned her head away from him and back to the oh-so entertaining grey wall ahead of them. "The other half is hoping the high octane environment will encourage sexual relationships and produce offspring." Her words were methodical, lacking any emotion as she stated the facts, but the white skin upon her tightening fists showed her true thoughts on the matter. "The young that are born in the army stay in the army and are raised to be in the army."
He gasped and physically reeled away from her in disgust. "They're brainwashing babies?!" He couldn't contain himself the words were practically a scream.
He'd known the Empire was fucked but this fucked?
"Yes." Raven whispered her eyes shutting tight as her knees came up to press against her torso. Conserving her warmth and comforting her thoughts. "I suspect Phoebe was debating terminating the pregnancy, thus why she said nothing about it. Terminating isn't allowed unless the mother's life is endangered." She took in a deep breath and opened her eyes to look back at him. Her expression was deadly serious. "But there are ways around that."
"Fuck." He had to say it. This was a line he didn't know the Empire was crossing. A layer of its evil that made everything go from downright despicable to cannot be allowed to continue.
You were right. You were right. You were right! The thought echoed in his head alongside her words from their shower conversation earlier. (Was that really just this morning?) "I-" he hesitated, remembering the light wire in the room and his current precarious standing with the people who owned him. "I understand now." He'd settle for that. Her eyes lit up in understanding as he gazed at her. "I'll do whatever it takes." To help you, he vowed.
"Thank you." Her eyes were shining with unshed tears at his understanding and willingness to, not only help, but commit to her cause.
Because she was right.
It wasn't enough to be free.
They need to be shut down.
And Danny was going to do whatever it took to make it happen.
